TORONTO - Commissioner Gary Bettman and union head Bob Goodenow are scheduled to meet here Thursday in an effort to spur stalled labor talks.
The meeting, at a yet-to-be-determined location, could extend through Friday, NHL Players' Association spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said Tuesday. The NHL and NHLPA have offices in Toronto.
Today, Bettman and Goodenow are expected to attend a second-round playoff game in Toronto between the Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers.
The league's current collective-bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15, and negotiations are expected to be stormy and could potentially disrupt next season.
Thursday's meeting will mark the first formal negotiations since players and owners met in Toronto on Oct. 1. Little appeared to come out of that meeting, which lasted only a few hours.
The sides have spent the last few months making their arguments through the media.
Citing about $273-million in losses during the 2002-03 season, owners are seeking what they refer to as "cost certainty" to reign in player salaries.
The players have questioned how the league accounts for its revenues, and refer to the owners' proposal as a "salary cap," something they call unacceptable.
Last weekend, the Sports Network, a Canadian cable TV broadcaster, reported that the sides are "on the same page" in negotiating to reduce the NHL schedule to 72 games, down from the current 82.
CANUCKS' LAMENT: Vancouver captain Markus Naslund believes outside distractions derailed the Canucks.
A week after they were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, Naslund said the hit teammate Todd Bertuzzi landed on Colorado's Steve Moore and Bertuzzi's subsequent suspension took away the team's focus.
"If you asked everyone in the locker room, it's been a different season than anyone expected," Naslund said. "It's been more focused on the off-ice part, which is difficult."
Bertuzzi's blindside punch to Moore's head earned him a suspension that carried throughout the playoffs. The loss of Bertuzzi, the Canucks' third-leading scorer, severely curtailed the offense that produced 16 goals in the seven-game loss to Calgary.
The Canucks were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs last season, and had high hopes of going further this year.
"I still think we probably needed a few more pieces of the puzzle to have a team strong enough to win the Stanley Cup," Naslund said. "I don't think maybe we could have done it with the team we had in here."
