Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly

Lots of questions, but still no answers in the NHL labor fight. The league and the players' association spent much of Saturday talking to each other via conference call, strictly for the purpose of sharing information regarding the NHL's new contract offer.

The NHL's latest offer to the players' association was enough for the sides to make plans to meet this weekend. The league and players are expected to talk via conference call on Saturday, and have tentative plans to meet Sunday in New York.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and players' association special counsel Steve Fehr spoke on the telephone but still haven't made plans to meet face to face.

The NHL and its locked-out players might turn up in a courtroom before they find their way back onto the ice.

Negotiators from the NHL and the players' association made it into the same room to talk this time. They just didn't carry any meaningful progress out of it.

Different location, different format, same old result in the ongoing fruitless NHL labor talks.

The NHL eliminated 16 more days from the regular-season schedule Monday, and if a deal with the players' association isn't reached soon the whole season could be lost.

Donald Fehr thought he and the hockey players he leads were close to a deal to save the season. The NHL said not so fast, and then took away everything that created all the optimism in the first place.

The best news on the 80th day of the NHL lockout was that hockey owners and players did most of their talking in front of each other instead of making public statements.

The NHL, the players' association and now even federal mediators agree on one thing: The bickering sides are nowhere near a deal that would put hockey back on the ice.