(CP) -- Last-ditch labour talks to save the NHL season resumed Thursday with league commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association executive director Bob Goodenow meeting for the first time since mid-December.

Sources indicate the meeting began around 1:30 p.m. EST at an undisclosed location in New York.

NHL and NHLPA end Friday meeting

TSN.ca Staff with files

2/4/2005

Sudden-death NHL labour talks ended Friday and early word is that they ended badly.

A source close to the talks said things did not go well in a four-hour meeting in New York between the NHL and NHL Players' Association that wrapped up at 3 p.m. EST.

NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow spoke briefly to reporters after the meeting, saying there was no progress to report and no further talks planned.

Goodenow also said that while he hoped the lines of communication would stay open, he was headed back to Toronto.

Click here to find out more!

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his right-hand man, executive vice-president Bill Daly, weren't immediately available for comment.

With the season on the line, the two sides resumed discussions following nine hours of talks the previous day but headway was not made.

The meeting was supposed to be at secret location but Canadian television networks tracked down the site in Manhattan.

Bettman and Goodenow were involved in the talks for the first time since mid-December but 13 hours of talks did not produce the miracle agreement.

Few expected any good news to come out of the meetings Thursday and Friday after the NHLPA rejected the NHL's latest offer Wednesday.

The lockout, which reached its 142nd day Friday, has forced the cancellation of 775 of the 1,230 regular-season games. In fact, during the last two days of talks alone, 13 games flew out the window.

The sticking point remains the same since talks began in January 2003. The league wants a salary cap system that links player costs with revenues. The union insists it will never play under such a system.

The league did soften its stance Wednesday, compared to its Dec. 14 offer, re-introducing salary arbitration, offering joint audit of team finances with stiff penalties for the cheaters, profit-sharing with the players, dropping the unrestricted free agency age to 30 from 31, and adding an owner-player council which would together decided ways to improve the on-ice product.

But the salary cap remained a huge obstacle.

Check out TSN and TSN.ca for updates as they follow.

From a source in the NHL, "We are at the halfway point of the end game. At this point Goodenow has said he moved as far as he can, which is pretty far. Bettman said he needs to get approval from owners if he is to move any further. Goodenow was amazed that Bettman didn't have the authority to make 'certain concessions.' He acused Bettman of staging the fact that he couldn't make a deal without going back to the owners. He has called the owners together for a meeting tonight, and talks with the NHLPA could start as early as tomorrow. There are serious doubts as to whether or not Bettman is prepared to pull the trigger on the season. The speculation was, if the seasons was to be cancelled, it would be cancelled prior to the Super Bowl. There is no indication that the season will be cancelled, in fact signs point towards a deal still being made."

Several of the people I talk to say the owners are aware of the fact that cancelling the season is suicide for the future of the league. Some franchises "will never play again" if the season is cancelled.

This is not over.

Cancellation Wheels In Motion

TSN.ca Staff/CP files

2/14/2005

It should come as no surprise to anybody, but the end is near.

It's expected the National Hockey League will put out an advisory later today that it is calling a news conference for tomorrow afternoon in New York, at which time NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to officially cancel the 2004-05 regular season and playoffs.

Individual NHL clubs are said to be planning their own local news conferences immediately following Bettman's announcement.


Related Info
Melnyk: Let the players vote

Some are still holding out hope, desperate as it may be, that there will be some last-minute movement that could lead to a resumption of negotiations that could delay what appears to be the inevitable, but it requires a monumental leap of faith to believe that.

The NHL and NHL Players' Association met with U.S. federal mediators in Washington on Sunday but still could not make any progress, despite five hours of talks.

According to a statement from the NHLPA, Scot B. Beckenbaugh, acting director of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, requested the meeting.

League commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow were not in the meeting. Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and league outside counsel Bob Batterman were there with NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and union outside counsel John McCambridge.

Saskin later released a statement saying that no progress was made as a result of the meeting.

Daly also released a statement, which echoed Saskin's.

If the season is canceled on Tuesday, the NHL would become the first major professional league in North America to ever cancel an entire season from beginning to finish.

TSN.ca Staff/CP files



2/14/2005

It should come as no surprise to anybody, but the end is near.



It's expected the National Hockey League will put out an advisory later today that it is calling a news conference for tomorrow afternoon in New York, at which time NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to officially cancel the 2004-05 regular season and playoffs.



Individual NHL clubs are said to be planning their own local news conferences immediately following Bettman's announcement.



Related Info
Melnyk: Let the players vote

Some are still holding out hope, desperate as it may be, that there will be some last-minute movement that could lead to a resumption of negotiations that could delay what appears to be the inevitable, but it requires a monumental leap of faith to believe that.



The NHL and NHL Players' Association met with U.S. federal mediators in Washington on Sunday but still could not make any progress, despite five hours of talks.



According to a statement from the NHLPA, Scot B. Beckenbaugh, acting director of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, requested the meeting.



League commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow were not in the meeting. Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and league outside counsel Bob Batterman were there with NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and union outside counsel John McCambridge.



Saskin later released a statement saying that no progress was made as a result of the meeting.



Daly also released a statement, which echoed Saskin's.



If the season is canceled on Tuesday, the NHL would become the first major professional league in North America to ever cancel an entire season from beginning to finish.