(CP) - The rhetoric will be flying high this week as the NHL and NHL Players' Association hold pep rallies in the aftermath of a cancelled season, plotting their next moves in a saga that's far from over.
The NHL's 30 owners and most general managers will gather for a board of governors meeting Tuesday in New York, the same day the NHLPA will assemble more than 150 of its players in Toronto. The players arrived Monday for a dinner meeting that ended around midnight.
The dialogue at meetings on both sides may have a similar feel. 'How did we get here and where do we go from here?'
''We intend, obviously, to provide the board with an in-depth update on the status of collective bargaining, and we will discuss next steps and business alternatives going forward,'' Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press on Sunday.
The NHLPA will also gather with player agents Wednesday in Toronto, delivering that influential group a full CBA update, and hoping to quell any concerns some agents may have.
If Lou Lamoriello has his way, NHL labour talks will resume in a hurry after this week's regrouping by both sides.
''My hope is that both groups come out of the meetings and there's immediate negotiations taking place,'' the New Jersey Devils CEO and GM told The Canadian Press on Sunday.
''To me the key is immediately sitting down and doing everything possible to get it completed,'' added Lamoriello, a key part of the league's negotiating think tank. ''The game is the most important thing.''
Lamoriello's comments echoed those of Penguins player/owner Mario Lemieux, who told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a deal must be struck by the spring to limit the damage being done to the game.
''The players really have to understand that the ability to maximize revenues next year is dependent on reaching an agreement as soon as possible,'' Lemieux said in Sunday's edition of the newspaper. ''Hopefully, they understand that, so we can go out and have our marketing plan and season-tickets (drive) and sell our sponsorships. Have the (June entry) draft, and all the things that need to be in place to maximize revenue.
''The longer we wait, the more challenging it's going to be for us to generate enough revenues. At the end of the day, you can only afford to pay the players so much. The longer we wait, the smaller the pie's going to be and the less there's going to be for the players.''
The NHLPA doesn't seem to share the same urgency. After all, with this season's salaries all gone by the wayside, the next paycheque due to players is next October.
''I think rather than rushing back into negotiations it will be important for each side to step back and fully assess where we are and how we got here,'' NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said on Sunday. ''Obviously all negotiating efforts to date have failed and new approaches may need to be considered by both sides.''
The question is whether the players have as much to lose as the owners do if there's no entry draft, if the game isn't re-launched this summer.
So the players' trump card may be to wait it out until August before returning to the negotiating table. The owners will likely respond with veiled threats of smaller paycheques for the players the longer this goes.
It's already started.
''This is the silliness,'' Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs told the Buffalo News in Saturday's edition. ''It's the drinking-the-Kool Aid sort of thing where you have guys out there who think, `We're going to make it so bad for the owners that they're going to want us back.' The fact is this is getting worse, and it's getting worse for the players more than it is for us.
''Over half of the income we have goes to them. That half is going to be smaller. This last agreement, the commissioner was risk-taking on the part of the ownership. I don't think there will be any more risk-taking with an undefined income source.''
Jacobs, the hardest of hard-liners and a man that has no admirers on the other side, could not have been more clear. ''Linkage'' is back on the table to stay in his mind. Because of the damage that will come from not having hockey games played this season, owners may insist on having a fixed link between revenues and player costs in any new deal, which the NHLPA has vehemently opposed.
Daly was more open-minded when asked about linkage.
''Obviously, the fact that we will not be playing hockey this season alters circumstances significantly, but I don't want to be in a position of negotiating through the media,'' he said. ''We'll see where we are once we have a chance to sit down again with the union.''
Saskin did not share Jacobs' view that the players have more to lose as the process drags on.
''I don't think it will further the process to respond to comments like those from Jeremy Jacobs suggesting the available deal only gets worse with the passage of time,'' said Saskin. ''Obviously the owners' decision to cancel the season will have negative impact on everyone associated with our industry and unfortunately this has been the preferred route to take by owners like Jeremy Jacobs.''