Nothing to Talk About as Clock Ticks Down on NHL Season

The NHL Board of Governors has cancelled its next meeting because there's nothing to discuss.

Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president, says the January 14 meeting was supposed to provide an update on collective bargaining with the NHL Players' Association.

"As it's turned out, there's really nothing to update the board on that they're not fully aware of already," Daly told TSN.ca.

It was widely assmued that the meeting would result in the official cancellation of the 2004-05 season. But the league still refuses to provide any such deadline.

Since their last bargaining session in December, the NHL and NHLPA have shown a pitiful lack of urgency in trying to settle their labor dispute.

"We don't have any intention currently of making a proposal," says Daly.

"We are not working on anything," NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin told TSN.ca on Tuesday.

What is it these guys are paid to do, exactly? Apparently, breaking a sweat over collective bargaining is not part of the job.