TORONTO (CP) - Trevor Linden brought both sides back to the NHL labour talks. But he leaves the bargaining table frustrated and discouraged by what he heard.
"I would consider myself more of a moderate guy that would look for a solution," the president of the NHL Players' Association said Friday in an interview with The Canadian Press. "That's why I went ahead with the meetings and thought we could work together. But I feel like I've been definitely pushed away.
"And you get pushed only so far and you have to make a decision from there..."
Something seems about to happen.
Judging from comments Friday, the players believe this season is about to become history. They expect a new league proposal next week, an offer that include the salary cap they will not stomach.
"If that's going to happen, I just would rather Gary just cancel (the season) now," Todd Marchant, player rep for the Blue Jackets, said Friday from Columbus. "If your next proposal is going to involve a salary cap, then just cancel it now. Let's just get it over with and then everyone can go about their lives and we can stop talking about it until next September."
Red Wings senior vice-president Jimmy Devellano also sees the writing on the wall.
"The season's done," he told the Detroit Free Press. "There's no chance that the right deal can remotely be done in the next little while. There's too much work to be done. There's too many i's to dot and t's to cross. You are not going to get this collective bargaining agreement done in two days, three days, one week or two weeks. It's over."
Linden, a veteran Vancouver Canuck, tried to do his bit.
With commissioner Gary Bettman out of the way and hardline owners like Boston's Jeremy Jacobs and Carolina's Peter Karmanos out of the picture, Linden was hoping to make some headway.
He says what he found out was - regardless of who's in the room - the NHL is as determined as ever to get a salary cap.
"Their pursuit of a team-by-team hard cap, NFL-style model, is crystal-clear," Linden said.
Linden believes the players want to find a solution and are willing to examine new ways of getting there. But to his mind the league road map is fixed, always leading to a salary cap.
"If we can't sit in a room and have a mutual discussion and work around each other's problems to get to an agreement, then what are we looking at?" he asked. "I think players really get their back up when they understand what's going on here."
Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, insists all is not lost.
"I believe we're a lot closer to the same philosophies than they are portraying now," Daly said Friday from New York. "Were there points in those meetings when both sides were clearly frustrated and Trevor was clearly frustrated? Absolutely, and I understand that. I can only take that back and try to process that and try to find a way to satisfy the concerns he was raising."
The size of the gap between the two sides is illustrated by Linden's passionate opposition to a salary cap.
He believes a cap is not just bad for the players, it is bad for both the fans and the game. For Linden, that makes the league's relentless drive for "cost certainty" even more distressing.
"We came to them not insisting on anything but trying to find middle ground," Linden said. "The fact that they're willing to do what they're going to do to get something that I don't even feel is good for the game really disturbs me."
The league's Dec. 14 offer calls for a payroll range of $34.6 million to $38.6 million US. Linden argues having all 30 teams with nearly the same payroll would damage the product.
He believes different teams have different payroll needs depending on where they are in their stage of development. Young, developing teams, for example, have smaller payrolls that increase as clubs mature and carry more veteran players.
Linden also says the cap will shred teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers or Colorado Avalanche with star players stripped away.
"Those teams can't look the same under this system," Linden said.
Daly sees a different outcome, saying under the old collective bargaining agreement even rebuilding teams lost players before they were ready to compete because they could no longer afford them.
"You've got teams now that have to be broken up because of the financial reality of the situation," Daly said. "So the system they want to maintain does not foster team-building unless you're in a situation where you can afford to team-build.
"The bottom line is that the salary cap has not fostered the kind of problems competitively or product-wise in either the NBA or the NFL that they (the NHLPA) are suggesting it has," he added. "I understood the points Trevor was making, and I shared some of those views, but I think he shared some of our views that you don't want a situation where teams on the bottom can afford only a $25-million payroll and teams at the top can spend $80 million to $90 million on players."
Daly also insists the league is working hard at a deal.
"We're trying to craft something that will work for both sides. And I can tell you that I think we're a lot closer than they're suggesting we are."
The key question for the players, however, is whether their resolve will be as strong next September, when talks would likely resume.
"I'd like to think that we're going to be as strong next September, next January, however long it's going to take, as we are right now," said Marchant. "And I'm sure the ownership group says the same thing, `I hope we're as strong as we are now next January.' But nothing's for sure."
Linden doesn't see why his fellow players would change their mind.
"If the guys can put their head on a pillow at night and know that we worked hard at finding a solution, I think they're OK with things," said Linden.
But few believe this season will be salvaged.
"I'm convinced there will not be a season," Vincent Damphousse, a member of the NHLPA's executive committee, told Radio-Canada on Friday.
"It's pretty clear they don't want to negotiate," added Damphousse. "They think they'll get what they want by waiting us out but I think they're making a mistake that's going to really hurt hockey."