Fans were still hopeful of a last minute deal between the NHL and the players' union on Thursday, but it did not come to fruition.
The Associated Press quoted Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner of the NHL as saying: "No contact, and I don't anticipate any announcements today."
A final round of meeting on Thursday was necessary if a full 82-game season was to be played; however, with no new discussions between the league and its locked-out players, it is now almost impossible to have a full season.
With the lockout in its 40th day, the NHL has vowed to cut the season short. Even upcoming events such as the outdoor Winter Classic and the All-Star game could be in danger.
Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner had already indicated on Wednesday when he announced that the Islanders were moving to Brooklyn that an 82-game season was not going to be a reality.
135 scheduled games through November 1 have already been cancelled by the NHL. Those could have been rescheduled if an agreement had been reached by Thursday so that play could have started by November 2.
The NHL had proposed a 50-50 split of the hockey-generated revenue. The union responded with three counterproposals which were declined by the league.
Talks eventually broke down and the NHL refused to return to the negotiating table without any preconditions.
The NHL's stance is that if the union is unwilling to negotiate off the league's proposal which according to Bettman is the best so far or at least make a counteroffer keeping the NHL's offer in mind, then it would make little sense to meet. Meeting just for the sake of meeting would only waste time for both sides.
"The fact of the matter is there are just sometimes that you need to take time off because it's clear that you can't do anything to move the process forward," Bettman said. "We're at one of those points right now because we gave our very best offer.
"That offer, for better or for worse, was contingent on playing an 82-game season. So I think things actually in some respects may get more difficult."
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