Season Is in Peril, NHL Official Says

Time is growing short for an NHL season to be played, Bill Daly, the NHL’s executive vice president and chief legal counsel, said Thursday, stating the obvious for the first time.

“I think something has to happen very soon for there to be hockey this season,” Daly said by e-mail in response to questions about his comments in a USA Today story.

Daly had said that he did not think a negotiation plan proposed by former Atlanta Thrasher President Stan Kasten “would facilitate an agreement, especially at this late juncture.”

Asked Thursday whether it was appropriate to conclude from his comment that there was little time left, Daly said, “I think we’re in a critical time period.”

As to what “very soon” would mean, Daly replied, “I don’t think we can define ‘very soon’ and we would have communicated to the clubs exactly what I just communicated to you. We’re not putting ‘dates’ on things, but, ‘Is there an urgency if we want to play hockey this year?’ I think the answer to that question is clearly ‘yes.’ ”

League leaders have said there is no drop-dead date, but the likelihood of the NHL’s being the first major North American sports league to cancel a season has increased considerably since the sides rejected the last round of proposals in December.

NHL Players’ Assn. executives declined to comment.

Daly made his comments two days after Carolina owner Peter Karmanos Jr. told the Canadian Press, “My gut feeling is that this season’s gone.”

Karmanos serves on the NHL executive committee, which prompted some players to say his comments were orchestrated.

Still, there have been recent indications that the season is in jeopardy.

In Boston, the Bruins will reduce the workweek for their employees to three days, Associated Press reported. The move will cut salaries by 20%, team officials said.

Staples Center has removed the Kings from its website calendar, although Staples Center spokesman Michael Roth said that was an oversight by “a person who oversees the website.”

Staples Center has scheduled a Duran Duran concert on Feb. 26, a night that a King game had been scheduled and beyond the 45-day period the NHL has allowed teams to release their buildings.

“That was the only date Duran Duran had available,” Roth said. “We actually negotiated a contingency plan, which they agreed that if we’re not able to deliver that date, they have an alternate venue to move the show.”

The Arrowhead Pond had also removed all games involving the Mighty Ducks -- the arena’s main tenant -- from its website calendar. Julie Sediq, a spokeswoman for the Pond, said that the exclusion of Duck games was an oversight.

“We redesigned and relaunched our website and we’re continuing to add the data onto the calendar,” Sediq said.

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NHL Lockout

A look at the NHL lockout through Thursday:

* Total days of lockout: 120.

* Total days of season missed: 93.

* Games lost Thursday: 5.

* Total games missed: 618 regular-season games plus the 2005 All-Star game.

* Negotiations: The NHL rejected a players’ association proposal and had its own counteroffer turned down during a 3 1/2 -hour session Dec. 14. No new talks are scheduled.

* Thursday’s best canceled game: Nashville at Detroit. A season after their first playoff appearance, the Predators missed a chance to test themselves against the Red Wings, who won the Stanley Cup three times in the previous eight years.

-- Associated Press