Players, Owners Hold Labor Talks

NHL players and owners met for the first time Wednesday at Toronto in an effort to work out a labor agreement.

The current agreement is set to expire next September and there are expectations that negotiations will be stormy, possibly resulting in a lockout.

Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHL Players’ Assn., said there have been about a dozen meetings between the NHLPA and the NHL since January, but this was the first that included players and owners.

The NHLPA requested the meeting, and Ottawa forward Daniel Alfredsson said the union made a proposal.

“I think it really addressed what we need to know,” Alfredsson said.

“They addressed their concerns, and I think we made a proposal that addresses their concerns.”

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Bill Daly, the league’s chief legal officer, attended the meeting.

Alfredsson and Goodenow wouldn’t go into specifics about the meeting, which lasted several hours.

“There is a lot of work to be done,” Goodenow said.

Said Daly: “Cost certainty came up. We had a discussion of the issues.”

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Dan Snyder of the Atlanta Thrashers remained unconscious and in critical condition at an Atlanta hospital two days after being thrown from a car that teammate Dany Heatley crashed into a pillar in the Buckhead district of the city.

Snyder underwent surgery for a skull fracture.

Heatley, charged with a felony, was in police custody at the same hospital while being treated for less serious injuries from the Monday night crash.

After Heatley is discharged from the hospital, he will be sent to the city jail until a judge sets bond, police spokesman Sgt. John Quigley said.

The Thrashers returned to the ice for an exhibition game against Florida and defeated the Panthers, 3-2. The team had considered canceling the game.

Police estimated that Heatley’s Ferrari was traveling about 80 mph when he lost control on a curve on a two-lane road. The car plunged into a wrought iron and brick wall in front of an apartment complex.

The car was ripped in half and the players were thrown onto the road.

Heatley was the most valuable player of the 2003 All-Star game.

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After signing forward Miroslav Satan to a two-year, $10-million contract this week, the Buffalo Sabres don’t know whether he’ll be in the lineup when they play the Chicago Blackhawks in an exhibition game tonight at Rochester, N.Y.

“I’m going to have to see where he’s at,” Coach Lindy Ruff said.

The Sabres’ leading scorer last year, Satan was expected to arrive in Buffalo from his native Slovakia on Wednesday night.

Since joining Buffalo in a trade with Edmonton in March 1997, Satan has 195 goals and 399 points. He had a career-high 75 points last year.