from Jeff Z. Klein of the New York Times,
After a week of negotiations, the N.H.L. and its players association have drawn close to agreement on several key issues, remaining far apart in only one main area: players’ contract rights.
That area remains thorny and could delay an end to the N.H.L. lockout, which reached its 57th day Sunday and concluded with gloomy news briefings from Bill Daly, the N.H.L. deputy commissioner, and Donald Fehr, the union’s executive director. The sides remain divided over when players can become eligible for free agency, among other contract issues.
But the two sides have made far more progress toward ending the lockout than is widely believed, according to a member of the union delegation who has attended the talks.
“We’re basically there” in several areas, according to the union delegate, who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
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