NHL Labor Talks to Continue

Negotiators for the NHL and the players’ union met for about nine hours in New York on Thursday and agreed to meet again today, rekindling faint hopes that the season might be saved.

Little emerged about the substance of the talks, but the willingness to continue revived the possibility that a deal could be forged to end a lockout that began Sept. 15 and has wiped out 772 games.

After both sides had acknowledged Wednesday that time is working against them, the union invited its executive director, Bob Goodenow, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to join the negotiations for the first time since mid-December. The two leaders had been excluded from recent gatherings in favor of “small-group” sessions.

“They’re going to keep going,” a source familiar with the talks said, “but I haven’t heard from anybody credible whether they made real progress or it was just a long goodbye.”

If they can’t reach an agreement and the season is canceled, a flurry of legal issues would arise. Chief among them is whether the NHL might declare an impasse and try to implement labor conditions and use replacement players next season.

The most divisive issue in the dispute has been the NHL’s intent to achieve “cost certainty” through linking salaries to revenue and the union’s interpretation of that as a salary cap, which it has vowed to never accept.

However, Jeremy Roenick of the Philadelphia Flyers, one of the NHL’s most recognizable and outspoken players, told ESPN that players might be willing to accept a cap but “not at the ridiculously low level offered.”

The last proposal made by the NHL, on Wednesday, included a team salary range of $32 million to $42 million, which would include players’ salaries and benefits. The proposal also linked salaries to revenue, guaranteeing players 53% of league revenue and setting a maximum of 55%. Players rejected that as another disguise for a cap, which they contend would unfairly limit their compensation.

Roenick also said he would favor having the union poll its members on the cap issue “if they [owners] would throw us a bone. Give us something we could gnaw on.”

At a higher threshold, he suggested, a cap might win approval from players.

Should a resolution be reached soon, enough time remains to play 28 or 30 games and a full slate of playoffs. The last labor dispute cut the 1994-95 season to 48 games, and the regular season was extended until May 3. The Mighty Ducks and Kings played their final 30 games from March 4 to May 3, a timeframe that could be used again.

The NHL issued a terse statement that said, in part: “In deference to the process, there will be no comment.”

The union’s statement, issued about 7:50 p.m., said only the meeting had ended and the parties would reconvene today.

A league source said cancellation of the season would not occur before early next week.