TORONTO (CP) - The NHL and the NHL Players' Association met for about four hours Wednesday but made little progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement.
"It takes two to make a deal," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
The Players' Association responded by accusing Bettman of engineering a lockout.
The two sides spent most of the day discussing the six "concepts" for a new deal that the league first put forward at their previous sessions July 21 in New York.
"We have a vision for the future of the game and that requires substantive changes," said Bettman. "The union has maintained the status quo.
"I'm hopeful the union will at some point embrace some of the concepts we've put forth."
The Players' Association came into Wednesday's meeting armed with questions about all six proposals, which the league tried to answer in detail.
They didn't like what they heard.
"Gary Bettman's objective from the beginning was to bring this to a lockout in order to put economic pressure on the players," said Ted Saskin, the NHLPA's senior director. "We just have to continue to work at it.
"We haven't made much progress to date."
The two did agree to hold another meeting Aug. 17 in New York to discuss the CBA, which expires Sept. 15.
"There's six weeks left and we continue to work at it and also continue to have differences," said Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal counsel. "But at least we're talking. ...
"Generally progress is made late in the process and that leaves me hopeful at this point."
Bettman, Daly and other league lawyers met with union head Bob Goodenow, Saskin and their group of lawyers.
The NHLPA refuses to accept any system that either resembles a salary cap or guarantees a percentage of revenues to the league's owners.
Owners appear ready to fight long and hard for a system that guarantees them what they call cost certainty, having put aside more than $300 million US in case of a lockout.
The NHL wants a new labour agreement that ensures costs won't overrun revenues. The union says the league's proposals, no matter how worded, amount to a hard salary cap.
The league says that 75 per cent of total revenues in 2002-03 went to player costs, leaving only 25 per cent to pay for coaches, travel, building costs, marketing and advertising - not enough to make any money in the NHL's eyes.
So the league is adamant it wants a new system that guarantees a link between costs and revenues.
The NHLPA proposed a system back on Oct. 1 that included revenue sharing, a luxury tax, a one-time five per cent rollback in salaries and some changes to the entry-level system.
Bettman said Wednesday he wouldn't consider a luxury tax.
As the two sides gathered in Toronto, a new poll finds the majority of Canadian hockey fans would support a lockout if it meant creating a financially level playing field.
In a poll conducted by Decima Research Inc. last month, 83 percent of those surveyed said they would stand by the NHL even if a lockout wiped out more than half a season as long as it results in a reduction of player salaries and a better deal for smaller clubs.
As well, 56 percent of fans believe the players association needs to be the one to compromise when it comes to a new deal while only 14 percent believe both sides need to compromise in the dispute.
The survey of 928 Canadians also found that most fans believe most NHL teams are in financial trouble.
During the last contract talks two weeks ago in New York, the league submitted several proposals outlining its need for "cost certainty". The NHLPA rejected them, claiming that each one "begins and ends with a salary cap" - something the union has been unwilling to negotiate.