The NHL lockout will continue for another day after negotiations did poorly on Wednesday. However, there may be hope afterall.
According to the Fox News, the two sides met with federal negotiators but nothing came of the meetings. ''There were discussions of the various issues involved and how far apart we are and where we go from here,' sai NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr said. ''I can't tell you that any progress was made.'' The Chicago Tribune adds that the league put an offer on the table but that they had a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude.
According to free agent Brendan Morrison, the standoff was worse than it had been in 2004-05 when the season was completely cancelled. "I never thought the issues were as big as they were back in 04-05. Apparently, I was wrong," Morrison stated in an interview with FireandIce.com. "I thought the gap would be closed much quicker, but it hasn't come to fruition yet, so we have to keep working."
Despite all of this, it seems that the deal will be struck by next week.
According to UK Agent Gareth Chalmers, European hockey teams are preparing to release their players by the end of next week. "I have been talking to a number of teams on the continent today who have NHL guys on their rosters. It seems that quite a few of them have been told by their NHL agents today, to get ready to return within the next week. One GM told me today that a contact of his in the NHL had advised that they are now looking at 2nd January restart," says Chalmers.
Negotiations had supposedly went well a week ago when the owners and players met without Commissioner Gary Bettman and Fehr in the meeting room. At one point, Fehr even went so far as to state that the deal was close. Unfortunately, Bettman later stated that they were not close and that the players were unwilling to make concessions.
A number of rumors from Eklund at Hockeybuzz indicate that a 48 game season may still be a possibility with a start date in January.