Source: NHL to cancel season at Wednesday news conference in New York

PIERRE LEBRUN
February 15, 2005

CP - Feb 14, 8:29 pm EST

(CP) - Talks between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association earned the 2004-05 season a one-day reprieve Monday but the coup de grace is planned for Wednesday at a news conference in New York with commissioner Gary Bettman, according to sources.

Initially a source said Bettman's announcement cancelling the season was set for Tuesday, but it was changed to Wednesday.

It appears the reason was an unannounced meeting Monday between Bill Daly and Ted Saskin, the lead negotiators for the NHL and the NHLPA, a session confirmed by another source.

It all made for a roller-coaster ride of a day, with little official information and plenty of speculation.

All the league did on the record was issue a statement saying a news conference with Bettman was scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST.

That statement came as Daly and Saskin were still talking - perhaps a sign that little was being accomplished or that the league wanted to turn up the heat on the union. Or perhaps simply because whatever happens behind closed doors, time has all but run out on jerry-rigging a reduced schedule even if a miracle solution is struck.

"I've said all along, until someone tells me it's over, it's not," Devils GM and CEO Lou Lamoriello said from his New Jersey office. "It's too easy to be negative. There's no question we have something scheduled at this point for Wednesday. It's looking very bleak right now but it's not over."

The Devils boss also had some advice.

"To me, let's get rid of all these buzz words (salary cap, luxury tax) and get something done that works for everybody."

The NHLPA did not bring a new offer to the Monday's session, a source confirmed. The talks were ongoing as of 6:45 p.m. EST.

Should the worst happen Wednesday, the NHL will become the first major professional league in North America to cancel an entire season from start to finish. But Bettman says the damage the NHL will suffer as a result is worth it in order to get "cost certainty" for his owners.

The NHL and the union met for more than five hours with U.S. federal mediators in Washington on Sunday but still could not make any progress. Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow were not at the meeting. Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and outside counsel Bob Batterman represented the league while Saskin, the NHLPA's senior director, and outside counsel John McCambridge were there for the union.

There was a lot of talk among agents, GMs and players this weekend but the buzz did not translate into any substance.

There has been more talk ever since the league sent out a memo to its 30 teams on Friday releasing the gag order on owners, GMs and team executives, not only allowing them to talk about the lockout to the media but also giving them the green light to reach out to players if they wanted. This appeared to be a move to circumvent the union leaders, hoping GMs could start a groundswell among their players to put pressure on Goodenow to accept a salary cap.

So much of the season has already been scrapped. Through Monday, 824 of the 1,230 regular-season games have gone by the wayside.

Had a miracle agreement been reached over the weekend, the league had a shortened schedule ready to go that would see teams play 28 regular-season games, playing only within their conference. The playoffs would stay the same.