NHL, players back to bargaining table; fans not crying in beer

The NHL and NHL Players’ Assn. met Wednesday in New York for a second straight day, with the league’s disputed “make-whole” clause expected to be at the center of their discussions following a day in which they are believed to have made some progress.

The Wednesday session started later than planned, reportedly because each side needed to hold internal discussions about how to proceed. But the fact that they’re meeting was widely seen as a good sign, especially because before Tuesday they hadn’t met since a brief session Oct. 18.

In the meantime, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Times that the league projects losses of $730 million for canceling games through Nov. 30. That will, of course, affect the hockey-related revenue that the league and players will split.

The NHL has been trying to keep sponsors happy, but here’s an interesting story about the lockout’s effect on a key NHL sponsor, Molson Coors. Without the NHL in action, it seems as if folks aren’t drinking as much beer as they do when games are being played.

There’s no NHL, but hockey is still being played. Here’s a link to information on a charity game that will be played Friday at 6 p.m. at the Kings’ practice facility in El Segundo. Also on Friday, USC will play UCLA at 8:30 at Anaheim Ice. Here are links for the hockey team websites of USC and UCLA.

We’ll have updates on any NHL labor news coming out of Wednesday’s meeting.

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