NHL responds to players' proposals, will meet again

• One deals with revenue sharing, the other with honoring existing contracts
• Thursday talks began at 1 p.m. ET and ended after five hours
• If things go well this week, there's still a chance for a 68- to 72-game season

The NHL Players' Association made two offers on Wednesday, the league responded on Thursday and the sides will meet again on Friday.

That was the latest as the sides held a third consecutive day of talks trying to reach a solution to end the 54-day-old lockout.

"We have work to do and my goal is that we can achieve the goal of getting a long-term, fair deal in place as quickly as possible so we can play hockey," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters afterward.

Wednesday, the sides discussed revenue sharing among teams and attempts to preserve existing contracts while dropping players' share of hockey-related revenue from 57% to 50%. Both are critical issues for the union

The NHLPA made one proposal on revenue sharing and another on players' share/honoring existing contracts, said a person with knowledge of the talks who asked to remain anonymous because details of negotiations are confidential.

The Canadian Press reported that the league offered a response, though details of what went on during the talks were kept quiet.

"I am not going to characterize it except to say, as I have before, that it's always better when you're meeting than when you're not," he told reporters. "It's better to be meeting and talking than not."

Under an Oct. 16 offer, the league had proposed a "make whole" provision to protect current contracts through deferred payments. That plan counted those payments toward the players' share of hockey-related revenue and was rejected by NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr as players paying back players.

The sides got back together at 1 p.m. ET and ended at 6 p.m. The undisclosed location was determined by reporters in New York as the law offices of Proskauer Rose, where Bettman used to work and which represents the league on legal matters.

This was just the second time the sides have met for three days in a row since the lockout began on Sept. 16. The first set of talks was about secondary issues, but now they're dealing with key issues. Bettman refused to characterize the talks.

"Collective bargaining is a process and it has peaks and valleys and ebbs and flows and it's very tough to handicap," he said.

The NHLPA said seven players were available on Thursday for the talks: David Backes, Chris Campoli, Mathieu Darche, Ron Hainsey, Johan Hedberg, Manny Malhotra and Kevin Westgarth.

So far, the NHL has canceled all games through Nov. 30 and the Winter Classic. Players would have received four paychecks through Nov. 30.

But if things go well this week, there's still a chance for a 68- to 72-game season.

Despite the continuing talks, player movement to other teams has kept up.

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson signed with HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxes, the Italian league said. He is scheduled to arrive on Friday.

Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown went ahead with his plans to join Switzerland's ZSC Lions, tweeting a picture of his boarding pass for a flight to Zurich.

Also this week, Montreal Canadiens center Scott Gomez signed a deal with the ECHL Alaska Aces, Philadelphia Flyers forward Max Talbot signed in Finland and the Carolina Hurricanes' Jussi Jokinen and Phoenix Coyotes' Lauri Korpikoski re-upped with Finnish teams.

But Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader told the Detroit Free Press there is "definitely optimism."

"I think they for sure know we need to get a deal done soon here and get things going," he said during an informal practice in Troy, Mich. "But, hold off, wait and see. We should know more by the end of the week."

Contributing: Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press