After a morning meeting to discuss the status of negotiations, representatives of the NHL and players' union canceled Wednesday's scheduled negotiations, according to an Associated Press report. Talks will resume again Thursday. No explanation was given as to why the scheduled negotiations were called off.
"This is one of the normal things that happen," [NHL players' union representative] Donald Fehr said. "Sometimes you schedule things and they don't come off. Sometimes you don't schedule things and you end up with much longer or more involved meetings. Sometimes you change the format. This is an ordinary part of the process."
The parties now have less than a month to come to an agreement before the current collective bargaining agreement expires on September 15. Reports indicate the parties remain far from a compromise. The NHL continues to push for an across-the-board reduction in player salaries and a cap on the terms of player contracts, proposals the NHLPA has rejected as too detrimental to players.
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