(CP/TSN.ca) - The NHL's latest labour talks wrapped up Thursday night after four hours with no further meetings planned.
The session at an undisclosed location in New York started around 4:30 p.m. EST and ended at about 8:30 p.m., sources told The Canadian Press.
"We are finished for the night," said a league spokesman. "Nothing further is scheduled at this time."
While neither side was prepared to comment on the details of the meeting, there are rumours that the NHL put forth a framework that was not viewed favourably by the NHLPA, which stated in a release after the meeting that there were still "significant philosophical differences".
The rumoured concepts presented included a hard salary cap of up to $42 million dollars although there was talk of a payroll range from somewhere in the low $30 million range up to the $42 million figure. As near as anyone can tell, total NHL payrolls would be linked to revenues in the area of 54%.
If all that is true, it is a much different picture than was speculated going into the meeting. Prior to the meeting, there was talk of a salary range of $32-$45 million with a payroll tax applied in that range. There apparently was no payroll tax forwarded by the league Thursday night.
It was also speculated that the league was prepared to propose a $6 million maximum salary on individual salaries, but that also did not materialize during the meeting.
Both sides confirmed there would definitely not be a meeting on Friday. Another source said "the lines of communication remained open" despite the break in talks.
"We're going to continue to keep quiet on the status and substance of negotiations," NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an e-mail following the meeting.
"We continue to have significant philosophical differences," said NHLPA Senior Director Ted Saskin in a statement. "No meetings are scheduled and we will not make further comment at this time."
The two sides sat down again less than 24 hours after meeting in Toronto, a session that didn't produce very much progress.
In the meantime, the clock continues to tick on salvaging a season. Through Thursday, 721 of the season's 1,230 regular-season games had gone by the wayside.
The six-man negotiating group grew to seven Wednesday when New Jersey Devils GM and CEO Lou Lamoriello joined the meeting. He was more than happy to get involved.
"As I've said all along, anything that's asked, like all of us we certainly want to help if someone thinks you can in any way," Lamoriello said before the meeting Thursday.
"You just do all you can. When you've been in the game for a while, you just never know what's going to occur."
The Devils executive joined NHL executive vice-president and chief legal officer Bill Daly, NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss and outside counsel Bob Batterman, and NHLPA president Trevor Linden, NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and outside counsel John McCambridge.
At some point NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow will need to re-enter the room, especially if there's a proposal from the league on the table.
Should the season be cancelled, the NHL will become the first of the four major professional sports in North America to not have a single game played from beginning to end.