Hmmm... wonder what to expect from next season... if there is one.

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NHL Owners Meet to Discuss Next Season

RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - NHL owners will meet in New York Tuesday to discuss ways to restart their darkened game next season.

The meeting will be the first since NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the 2004-05 season on February 16 after failing to conclude a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union.

It was the first time a North American professional sport lost an entire season due to a labor dispute.

NHL players, their agents and union officials will hold meetings of their own in Toronto this week.

The sides have been unable to reach an agreement during months of negotiations, including one session after Bettman canceled the season.

The main sticking point in negotiations was the imposition of a salary cap. The union reluctantly agreed to one at the last minute, but the two sides were more than $6 million apart per team on what the figure should be.

Pittsburgh Penguins (news) player/owner Mario Lemieux (news) believes it is critical to have a new collective bargaining agreement in place this spring.

If that doesn't happen, there could be massive damage to the league's economic infrastructure, Lemieux told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"The players really have to understand that the ability to maximize revenues next year is dependent on reaching an agreement as soon as possible," Lemieux said.

"The longer we wait, the more challenging it's going to be for us to generate enough revenues.

"At the end of the day, you can only afford to pay the players so much. The longer we wait, the smaller the pie's going to be and the less there's going to be for the players."

Boston Bruins (news) owner Jeremy Jacobs acknowledged the labor problems began when owners agreed to meet the salary demands of the players, driving the average salary from $271,000 in 1990-91 to $1.8 million last season, though they were now determined to address the problem.

"We're taking control of our destiny," he told the Buffalo News. "We have to fix it."