Negotiations between NHL players and owners resumed today at 1 PM at a hotel near the Toronto airport. The two sides met yesterday in Chicago for the first negotiations since mid-December. Once again, Commissioner Gary Bettman and union boss Bob Goodenow were not scheduled to attend today's meeting.

The meeting was reportedly moved to Toronto to accommodate union senior director Ted Saskin whose mother died yesterday.

League executive vice president Bill Daly was pleased with the tone of yesterday's negotiations. 'I thought the atmosphere was good,' Daly told reporters yesterday. That's more than can be said for any previous meetings between the owners and players. In fact, the reason both Bettman and Goodenow were not included in the present negotiations was because negotiators felt that animosity between the two might hamper progress.

Daly tried to save face for all concerned when he added, 'I don't think that had anything to do with the fact that Gary or Bob weren't there. It was a smaller session and a good dialogue.'

The NHL has yet to play a game this season and time is running out if the league hopes to play any games in 2004-05. Thus far, the lockout has canceled 671 games of the 1,230 games on the initial league schedule.

The lockout began September 15th. The main issue is a salary cap. The owners claim they want 'cost certainty,' i.e. to tie salaries to revenue. Players say they will never accept a hard salary cap.

If a settlement is not reached, this could be the first year the Stanley Cup is not awarded since 1918 when the Spanish flu epidemic canceled the series between Seattle and Montreal before it could be completed.