Agents Get NHL Update

National Hockey League Players’ Assn. leaders will meet with registered player agents today in Chicago, with the NHL lockout past the two-month mark. During the 1994-95 season, a similar meeting was the prelude to renewed negotiations between the league and union. However, sources from both sides are saying that no new talks are planned. The last negotiations were Sept. 9.

Both sides have said the season could be canceled, with growing speculation that serious negotiations will have to begin by Dec. 1 to salvage a partial season.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is seeking “cost certainty.” Union leaders translate that to mean a salary cap, which the players oppose. The league has rejected proposals by the union that included a luxury tax.

Both sides have prepared for a lengthy lockout. The owners have a $300-million lockout fund. The players have been told for years by union leaders to save their money.

“At my very first union meeting, five years ago, I was told there was going to be a lockout,” New Jersey Devil Scott Gomez said. “I was just happy to be in the NHL and was going, ‘What’s a lockout?’

“What is right is right, and if it takes the whole season, that would be tragic.”