The NHL and players union will resume talks on Friday for the first time since the league started the lockout.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHL Players' Association special counsel Steve Fehr met in Toronto and scheduled the session for New York later in the week. The talks are said to focus on "non-core economic issues," according to the Associated Press.
The two sides haven't had any formal negotiations since Sept. 12, but have had informal conversations since the lockout started.
The league locked out the players on Sept. 16, which was when training camps were scheduled to begin. Commissioner Gary Bettman is seeing his third lockout since 1993 and based on the progress so far, the current stalemate could be one of the longest.
In 1992 the players missed 30 days, while the 1994-95 lockout resulted in 468 games lost. The lockout in the 2004-05 lost the entire NHL season. During the last stoppage, the two sides did not meet to start bargaining until three months into the lockout.
So far all preseason hockey games have been cancelled through Sept. 30 and if an agreement isn't met soon, the October games are expected to be cancelled. The season is scheduled to begin on Oct 11.
Official from both sides met on Monday to review economic figures, but not to discuss the labor contract.
''Obviously, we've got to talk before you can get a deal, so I think it's important to get the talks going again,'' Daly said Monday to the Associated Press. ''But you also have to have something to say. I think it's fair to say we feel like we need to hear from the players' association in a meaningful way because I don't think that they've really moved off their initial proposal, which was made more than a month ago now.''
Topics that will be discussed at the meeting include medical plans, scheduling issues, drug testing, procedural issues and pension plans.
The two sides have dug into their positions, with the players not wanting to give back salary and the league asking for a smaller player's share of revenue.
The league generates $3.3 billion in annual revenue, 57 percent of which goes to the players based on the last agreements. The league is hoping for the players to lower the number to between 49 percent and 47 percent, up from 43 percent in its original proposal.
A host of star players have signed agreements to play overseas, including Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton and Ruslan Fedotenko among many more.
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