Secretive NHL Talks Under Way

Under intense secrecy, negotiators for the NHL Players Assn. and the league met for four hours Sunday to begin their final drive toward saving the season.

NHLPA attorneys Bob Riley and John McCambridge talked with NHL senior vice presidents Jeff Pash and Brian Burke in a session that began late in the afternoon and lasted well into the evening. It was their first meeting since Dec. 17, and the first since Commissioner Gary Bettman established Jan. 16 as the latest possible date a 50-game schedule could begin.

The league’s Board of Governors authorized Bettman to cancel the season if he determines a 50-game schedule and full slate of playoffs can’t be completed by July 1.

To accommodate a training camp of a week or 10 days, an agreement would have to be reached no later than next weekend.

Spokesmen for the league and union declined to say where the session was held or whether any progress was made in ending the lockout, which today begins its fourth month. It was learned the negotiators are scheduled to meet again today and Tuesday, but no full-scale negotiations involving Bettman and union chief Bob Goodenow have been arranged.

“This is closeable. They’d be crazy not to play with what they (owners) have (gained from players),” said a source allied with the union.

While the two sides have neared agreements on issues such as free agency and the entry draft, they remain at odds over the league’s proposed payroll tax, which players contend acts as a salary cap and would suppress salary growth. NHL negotiators have suggested they might eliminate the tax if players relinquished most of their salary arbitration rights, but the union refused to do that, saying it has already made enough economic concessions.

Players have already conceded a cap on rookie salaries, a pay scale for entry-level salaries and other limitations on free agency and arbitration.