(CP) - The NHL and NHL Players' Association will resume labour talks Monday at an undisclosed location, sources have told The Canadian Press.
The two sides haven't met since March 17 in New York, when the NHLPA was presented two proposals by the NHL, the first being a team-by-team $37.5-million US salary cap deal that did not have a fixed link between player costs and league revenues - a term called linkage.
The second offer was based on linkage, with player costs to take up no more than 54 per cent of league revenues.
The union wants no part of linkage, not wanting to tie players' salaries to a business that has suffered immeasurable damage with an entire season cancelled.
The NHL gave the union an April 8 deadline to negotiate on the "de-linked" proposal, or else it will be pulled off the table and only the second proposal will remain.
If a new deal isn't reached in the very near future, the NHL will likely go ahead with plans to open shop using replacement players in the fall. That subject will be on the table when owners gather again for a board of governors meeting April 20 in New York.
Things are getting uglier by the day, with the NHL filing a charge with the National Labour Relations Board in the U.S. last Thursday over the NHLPA's apparent policy that any union member who were to become a replacement player next season would have to re-pay the lockout pay he is currently receiving.
Players are receiving between $5,000 to $10,000 US a month.
The NHL is also considering filing a second charge with the NLRB, this time objecting to the NHLPA's threat to de-certify any agent representing replacement players.