TORONTO, 7 May 2005 — The National Hockey League and its Players’ Association will continue talks today aimed at breaking an impasse on a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides met on Friday for over three hours but neither side released any details on what was discussed.
“Representatives of the NHL and NHL Players’ Association met for 3-1 2 hours today in Toronto and will reconvene tomorrow morning,” the NHL stated in an unsigned news release. “It is expected that a statement will be issued following tomorrow’s session.” Two more sessions are expected to take place Monday and Tuesday in New York. Canadian sports network TSN reported that the two sides are both heading to Austria for the World Championships and then will meet again in Toronto on May 18.
Thursday’s talks were the first since April 19 in New York.
On April 4, the union rejected a pair of proposals by the league, both of which included a salary cap and one introducing linkage of players’ salaries to league revenue.
However, the NHLPA later countered with a plan involving a floating team-by-team payroll with a floor of 30 million dollars and a ceiling of 50 million dollars.
NHL commisioner Gary Bettman wiped out the 2004-05 season on Feb. 16, making the NHL the first major North American sports league to have an entire season scrapped due to a labor dispute.
