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NHL Training Camps Keep the Doors Open--for Now : Hockey: However, the possibility of a lockout remains should contract negotiations bog down.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

NHL training camps will open as scheduled, the league notified teams Wednesday, although the possibility of a lockout later has not been eliminated.

“We got the news today, but obviously, it could change at any moment after camp opens,” Mighty Duck assistant captain Stu Grimson said. “I think from the players’ standpoint, we’re all very encouraged that things seem to be progressing.”

Kings’ General Manager Sam McMaster called the league communique “good news.”

“We don’t want to sit, and I’m sure Mr. (Gary) Bettman doesn’t want to sit and I’m sure the players want a deal,” McMaster said. “We just can’t go on playing year after year without a deal.”

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The Kings report Saturday and are scheduled to take the ice on Monday at the Iceoplex in North Hills. The Ducks report Sunday, with their first practice scheduled for Monday at The Pond of Anaheim.

Speculation that NHL players would be locked out intensified last week, after Commissioner Bettman received authorization from the league’s Board of Governors to shut down camps if he believes insufficient progress is being made in collective bargaining talks. The players have been without a contract since last Sept. 15.

With the Winnipeg Jets scheduled to open camp today, a decision was necessary. After a five-hour meeting Tuesday with Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHLPA, Bettman decided to forgo a lockout--at least for now. The possibility of one later remains, and a league source said Bettman is working with the idea there is a “30-day window” for a lockout between now and Oct. 1, when the season is scheduled to open.

The league made no formal announcement that camps will open, contending that none was necessary since it had never announced the possibility of a lockout. Goodenow confirmed he has been told camps will open.

“What this means is that the camps will go forward as planned and the negotiation process between the parties will also continue,” Goodenow said in a prepared release.

Another meeting between Bettman and Goodenow is scheduled for today, said Arthur Pincus, NHL vice president for public relations. Salaries are the main issue, with owners seeking to tie salaries to revenue and players intent on having salaries set by the open market.

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Though camps are opening, the league is still imposing a series of unilateral rules changes, effective today--except in the provinces of Ontario and Alberta, where labor laws regarding the conciliation process prevent the rules from taking effect until later this month.

Players must now pay for their transportation to and from training camp, and their $54 per diem food allowance has been eliminated for camp and the regular season. Other changes include roster reductions and increased player contributions for medical and pension plans.

Bettman notified the players of the rules changes Aug. 1, saying it was an effort to make them return to the bargaining table.

“We don’t feel any better about that at all,” Grimson said. “But I’d say the players are at the point now where we accept that as part of the strategy of negotiating and navigating the course toward a new CBA. But we’re certainly disgruntled about the way training camp is starting. We don’t think it’s fair.”

Times staff writer Lisa Dillman contributed to this story.

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