NHL labor negotiations are at a standstill after talks broke off on Friday, significantly raising concerns the league is two weeks away from its fourth labor dispute in 20 years.
Negotiations that were scheduled to resume in New York next week are now in limbo after NHL Players' Association executive director Don Fehr announced that the league had asked that talks be "recessed."
The latest development came after the union presented its latest proposal during negotiations at the NHL headquarters in New York. The league has threatened to lock out its players once the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Sept. 15.
"Unfortunately, so far at least," Fehr said, "that proposal we made today did not bear fruit."
For the first time since talks began in late June, NHL officials began expressing concern as to whether a deal can be reached to avoid a disruption of training camps.
"I think that today was clearly a setback," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "It's going to be tough to get something done in time to open camps unless or until the union changes its position and indicated a willingness to move off of its current proposal, which it was clearly not prepared to do today."
Daly added: "Hopefully, the union and the players will re-evaluate where we are, and where they are willing to go in the coming days."
The regular season is set to open Oct. 11, but that is now uncertain given the tenor or negotiations.