Reducing the Schedule Among Topics at Talks

Reducing the NHL schedule by 10 games is among topics being discussed by the NHL and its players’ association in attempting to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

“Shortening the season is what we’ve said all along is what we’re prepared to discuss along with any number of other issues,” NHL Vice President Bill Daly said Wednesday. “To say we’ve had any serious negotiations or any tentative agreement on it would be an overstatement. But certainly it’s something that will probably come up in the course of these negotiations.”

Daly’s comments came as the NHL was preparing to meet with NHL Players Assn. officials in Toronto today in an effort to spur stalled negotiations. The meeting will be the first formal negotiation session since the sides last talked in Toronto on Oct. 1.

The NHL has operated with an 82-game regular season since 1995-96. A 72-game schedule would be the shortest since teams last played 70 games in 1966-67, the year before the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams.

Both sides see potential benefits to a shortened season, Daly said. The union says fewer games would lead to less fatigue among players and provide for a better product, he said.

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The NCAA granted a waiver allowing 17- and 18-year-old players at Division I schools to be selected in the NHL draft in June. The players would retain college eligibility as long as they don’t play for a professional team or hire an agent.