New York, NY (Sports Network) - The NHL and NHL Players Association met for more than five hours on Wednesday.
The day was broken into two separate bargaining sessions. In the morning, Donald and Steve Fehr met with commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly in a smaller group meeting.
Steve Fehr, Mathieu Schneider and a handful of players were on hand for the second session. NHLPA head Donald Fehr was not present.
Neither side has given an offer in three weeks, but NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly stated that the NHLPA is in the midst of putting together a new offer.
"We're encouraging them to make a proposal," said Daly. "We've suggested to them to make the proposal because any movement is better than no movement at all."
Discussed today was health and safety issues along with several other minor issues.
"I don't think we made a lot of progress today, to tell you the truth," said Daly.
"It's hard to tell, having done this for a number of years for a number of disputes, sometimes you don't know you're making progress until you look back on it," said NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr.
The lockout is in its 26th Day with the two sides still divided on fundamental league revenue issues.
The work stoppage has already forced the NHL to cancel the first two weeks of the regular season, a move that wiped 82 games off the schedule and pushed a potential opening night back to Oct. 25.
It's the third time in 18 years a lockout has forced the cancellation of NHL games.
