Madferret
6-25-05, 4:37 AM
NHL, NHLPA wrap up five days of talks
Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) - Like the Energizer bunny, NHL labour talks keep going and going and going and will resume again Monday in New York.
The NHL and NHL Players' Association wrapped up more than 75 hours of talks over five straight days in Toronto on Friday, as they painstakingly inched towards a final resolution. The lawyers on each side of the table continue to draft the agreement as they go along.
''It was a very long week but I think both sides are working really hard to resolve and move the process forward,'' Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal officer and executive vice-president, said Friday evening before boarding a plane for New York.
''We continued to make progress this week but there are still some issues that we need to talk about,'' he added. ''We've made significant progress on most of the critical areas but that's all contingent on everything being resolved.''
Daly would not say when he thought a deal could finally be done, but it's believed a tentative deal could be reached as early as next week or the first week of July. ''There's a real sense of urgency of tying to get this behind us,'' Daly said. That urgency was displayed by 15- to 17-hour meetings each and every day this week.
''The two parties engaged in lengthy negotiations every day this week, and while progress has been made in a number of areas, there remains a considerable amount of work to be completed in order to reach an agreement,'' NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said in a statement. ''We will be continuing our meetings with the league on Monday morning in New York.''
Once a tentative deal is announced, the agreement will need to be ratified in a full players vote on the union side and a board of governors rubber-stamp on the NHL side. Meanwhile, a report on Friday said the NHL all-star game would be scrapped if the league does indeed take a break in its schedule to send its players to the Turin Games. League sources said Friday no decision had been made on any of those issues, next season's schedule still very much in the air depending on how quickly a deal with the union can be reached.
The all-star weekend is scheduled for February 4-5, while the men's Olympic hockey tournament runs from Feb. 15-26, with defending champion Canada opening against Italy on the 15th.
Yes, it is now a "sense of urgency".
:conspire:
Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) - Like the Energizer bunny, NHL labour talks keep going and going and going and will resume again Monday in New York.
The NHL and NHL Players' Association wrapped up more than 75 hours of talks over five straight days in Toronto on Friday, as they painstakingly inched towards a final resolution. The lawyers on each side of the table continue to draft the agreement as they go along.
''It was a very long week but I think both sides are working really hard to resolve and move the process forward,'' Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal officer and executive vice-president, said Friday evening before boarding a plane for New York.
''We continued to make progress this week but there are still some issues that we need to talk about,'' he added. ''We've made significant progress on most of the critical areas but that's all contingent on everything being resolved.''
Daly would not say when he thought a deal could finally be done, but it's believed a tentative deal could be reached as early as next week or the first week of July. ''There's a real sense of urgency of tying to get this behind us,'' Daly said. That urgency was displayed by 15- to 17-hour meetings each and every day this week.
''The two parties engaged in lengthy negotiations every day this week, and while progress has been made in a number of areas, there remains a considerable amount of work to be completed in order to reach an agreement,'' NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said in a statement. ''We will be continuing our meetings with the league on Monday morning in New York.''
Once a tentative deal is announced, the agreement will need to be ratified in a full players vote on the union side and a board of governors rubber-stamp on the NHL side. Meanwhile, a report on Friday said the NHL all-star game would be scrapped if the league does indeed take a break in its schedule to send its players to the Turin Games. League sources said Friday no decision had been made on any of those issues, next season's schedule still very much in the air depending on how quickly a deal with the union can be reached.
The all-star weekend is scheduled for February 4-5, while the men's Olympic hockey tournament runs from Feb. 15-26, with defending champion Canada opening against Italy on the 15th.
Yes, it is now a "sense of urgency".
:conspire: