Talks continue in New York with new wrinkles

After a marathon session that went until 1 AM yesterday, the players and owners will be back at it in Day 3 of serious negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in New York City. However, the latest estimate is that a meeting will not take place until 5 PM at the earliest.

"We obviously had a number of meetings today over many hours," NHL Deputy Commish Bill Daly said earlier this morning. "Had good, candid dialogue on a lot of issues. There continue to be some critical open issues between the two parties and we understand the Union should be getting back to us [Thursday] on some of those issues."

Several Canadian sources are reporting that business, which will include a meeting of both sides scheduled for noon ET, is being conducted in an area not accessible to the media, and that the union has chucked the "no Bettman no Fehr" rule which guided its earliest discussions.

"I thought it was a constructive day, we had a good dialogue," said Steve Fehr, Special Counsel for the union about Tuesday’s meetings. "In some ways I'd say it might be the best day we've had, which isn't to paint too overly optimistic of a picture. There is still a lot of work to do and a lot to get done, but we'll be back at it [Wednesday] morning." 

The union was set to have an internal session before breaking and rejoining the owners this afternoon. Additional reports revealed that the players want to have mediators return to any further discussions. If you recall, that path was deemed a dead-end last week as federal mediators failed to move both sides in Washington, DC. It is unknown why the PA wants this as a concession now.

One major sticking point is the length of a new CBA. In an odd twist, the owners want a 10-year duration while the players are looking for something shorter.

This new round of talks comes after rampant and polarizing speculation from many corners, alternately preaching optimism and pessimism. The realism is that as long as talks continue, there is hope that a season of some fashion may be in the offing.

Discussions on Wednesday night ranged from a 56-to-64 game schedule, all inter-conference, starting either Christmas Day or January 1, with a truncated training camp before the schedule's commencement. No concrete sources have either confirmed or denied its truth.

The 1994-95 work stoppage was resolved on January 11 and a 48-game schedule for each team kicked off nine days later

Today marks Day 82 of the current lockout, which has claimed All-Star Weekend, the Winter Classic and 422 games through the middle of December.