With Nothing to Say, NHL Cancels Meeting

The NHL on Thursday canceled its Jan. 14 board of governors meeting because league leaders said they had nothing new to report on the four-month-old lockout.

Bill Daly, the NHL’s chief legal counsel, sent a memo to the league’s 30 teams saying that “since everyone is up-to-date on the status of negotiations, and in the absence of any meaningful offer from [the NHL] Players’ Assn., there is no reason for the board to meet at this point in time.”

NHL and union representatives last talked Dec. 14, when the union rejected a league counterproposal for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The union is not planning a last-minute offer, according to its leadership, which could soon leave Commissioner Gary Bettman with the historic decision of whether to cancel the season.

The NHL would be the first major North American sports league to cancel an entire season.

In order to arrange a legitimate season, many observers say the NHL must begin play by Feb. 1. In the 1994-95 season, the league played a 48-game schedule after a lockout ended on Jan. 11.

The board of governors last met Sept. 14, when Bettman announced the lockout. Next week’s meeting was announced on Dec. 22, but teams were not given an agenda. There have been no talks between the union and league since.

“Our commissioner never has a meeting just for the sake of having a meeting,” New Jersey Devil General Manager Lou Lamoriello told Associated Press.

The cancellation announcement comes at a time when some owners reportedly were ready to voice their concerns about the direction the league was taking in the labor dispute.

According to an NHL team source, representatives from a few of the league’s profitable franchises were expected to question Bettman about his lockout strategy.

Asked about owner solidarity, Daly said, “There are, and should be, absolutely no concerns about owner solidarity.”

There was also speculation that Bettman had called the meeting to pressure the union into concessions. However, in light of recent comments from some players, that seemed unlikely. Steve Rucchin, the Mighty Ducks’ player representative, said this week that the union would not offer a new proposal.

“If this process is to move forward, it is now up to the NHL to make a proposal that would be of interest to the players,” said Ted Saskin, the union’s senior director.

*

NHL Lockout

* Total days of lockout: 113.

* Total days of season missed: 86.

* Games lost Thursday: 10.

* Total games missed: 571 regular-season games plus the 2005 All-Star game.