The already bleak prospects for an NHL season have taken yet another turn for worse, possibly for the final time, despite the assistance of American mediators.
Talks between the NHL and NHLPA broke off after three hours on Thursday and sources told TSN little progress was made. That was confirmed by Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, who all but pronounced the season to be lost.
"It's disappointing," Daly told a news conference following the four-hour session at the league's Toronto head office. "We are absolutely disappointed with where we are (today)."
"I hoped at the end of the day that reason would prevail, that we would find some common ground... but that hasn't happened."
Ted Saskin, senior director of the NHLPA, was equally negative.
"We're the only people who have made any proposals of any magnitude in these negotiations and we're done," he told a separate news conference.
For those hoping that mediation might solve the problem, Daly provided a rather stunning revelation on Thursday. he said the league has already been in touch with mediators south of the border - since last fall - and met with them last week in Newark, New Jersey. Even they have not been able to help.
Saskin said he did not put much stock in the mediation comments, saying the NHL had not taken the process seriously.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman left Toronto with empty hands and no hope Thursday. The meeting with the Players' Association went so badly he couldn't bear to talk about it afterwards. He left that to his top lieutenant.
"A pointless meeting," a glum-looking Daly said.
Bettman's weekend deadline of getting a deal put to paper will apparently come and go without even a conversation between the sides, let alone a written agreement. Sources indicate Bettman will officially call off the season at a news conference in New York - Tuesday at the earliest and Thursday at the latest.
"We will not reach out to the union at this point," Daly said. "There's no further creativity left on this side in terms of trying to get a deal done."
Saskin intimated much the same from his side.
"We're not going to pick up the phone this weekend," Saskin said at a separate news conference.
It's about time. Hockey fans in North America have long since moved on with their lives.
"It's dragged on more than long enough for all of us I think," Saskin conceded.
The only possibility left, albeit remote, would be for NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow to pick up the phone Sunday night and tell Bettman he's got a deal for him, the kind of thing he did 10 years ago in helping end that lockout. He's reputed for working off deadlines.
But don't count on it this time.
"Certainly there is no expectation or optimism on this side that anything will happen before that (cancellation) announcement is made," Daly said.
What's amazing is that nothing has changed from the beginning of this process. The NHL and NHLPA have held 37 CBA meetings together, 14 in 2003, 14 in 2004 and nine so far in 2005. The salary cap remains the deal-breaker.
"Their outright rejection of our proposal yesterday I think speaks more to the fact that the union is never, ever, ever, ever - under any circumstances - prepared to play under any kind of cost-certain, economic partnership, salary cap - you pick the term - type of system," Daly said.
"And as long as that continues to be their position, it's going to continue to be difficult for us to resolve this."
Countered Saskin: "They have made it clear they have only one way of doing things, and that's through their hard-cap system. . . .
"Their position has not changed from the outset."
And so each side appears ready to do something no other major professional sport has done in North America, not play a single game from beginning to end. They're both willing to risk what many fear will be irreparable damage to the game.
"We're all suffering from the damage done to the sport," said Saskin. "But the players have been resolute in waiting to get the right deal, the right deal for the sport and one that's fair for both to operate under. And that's not what the league has been prepared to do - to date."
Daly reiterated what Bettman has said from the day he announced the lockout Sept. 15, that while the league knows the risks involved in not playing hockey this year, getting cost certainty remains paramount.
"What we're going through right now, though not fun for anyone, is necessary for the future of the sport, for the sport to be healthy and for it to continue to exist."
Bettman and Daly were joined on their side Thursday by outside counsel Bob Batterman. All three were left utterly frustrated by the agenda, the union spending nearly the entire meeting questioning the league's revenue sharing commitment.
"Quite frankly, we expected a little more from the Players' Association today than we got," Daly said. "To be generous, we got nothing."
The union has long maintained that meaningful revenue-sharing must be a component of any new agreement, and it feels the league has shied away from it.
"When it comes to talking about their meaningless revenue sharing approach, that would still have 11 teams in the league losing money at a $34-million cap number, they don't seem to be comfortable talking about anything having to do with that," said Saskin.
"And I can probably understand why."
The league in turn was mystified the union didn't bother trying to work off Wednesday's offer, instead rejecting it quickly and moving on.
"I think it did surprise us a little because I don't understand why the union would be unprepared to entertain a concept that would envision us utilizing the very proposal they had promised would work for a period of time," Daly said.
The league's offer would have seen the collective bargaining agreement begin with the NHLPA's Dec. 9 proposal - which featured a luxury tax - then evolve into the league proposal of Feb. 2 - based on a salary cap - if it was deemed that the union's model no longer worked.
That would be decided by four specific triggers. The union maintains at least one if not two of those would kick in right away, rendering the league's offer unacceptable.
"Nobody was fooled by any of those trigger points," Saskin said dismissively.
Daly did reveal the league and union had been in touch with mediators south of the border and met with them as recently as last week in Newark, N.J. But the mediators had not been able to help despite contact that started prior to the lockout's start in September.
Saskin said he did not put much stock in the mediation comments, saying the NHL had not taken the process seriously.
Through Thursday, 824 of the 1,230 games scheduled for the regular season have gone by the wayside. Pretty soon no one will need that tally. There will be no hockey in 2004-05.