League Resumes Talks to End Lockout

Officials from the National Hockey League and the players' association resumed talks for the first time in a couple of weeks which has created some feelings of hope that this will put a stop to the seven-week-old NHL lockout. Bill Daly, the NHL deputy commissioner, and Steve Fehr, members of the union's special counsel, met privately this weekend as the first step in a bargaining process in resolving this deadlock that has continued since October 18th. Several members of the news media were given notice on Sunday morning as to the discussion taking place surrounding the problems and that an additional meeting set to take place in the near future. This meeting followed the cancellation of the Winter Classic, the 376th game of the 2012-13 schedule is removed which represents 26.5% of the season. The main focus revolves around the contracts related to the division profits among players as it is being reduced from 57% to 50%. Recent offers were proposed by each side presented by each side last month in October. The union wanted the contracts to be fully agreed up and guaranteed. The league proposed another option to cuts which involved higher profit reduction for players signing on in the future to alleviate the decrease from current NHL players.