from the CP at TSN,

With the NHL lockout heading into its ninth week, a new issue has cropped up at the negotiating table.

In addition to sorting out the division of revenue and player contracting rules, the NHL and NHL Players' Association must also decide how to deal with the financial implications of playing a shortened schedule once an agreement is reached.

"It has an impact (on talks)," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr acknowledged Friday night.

That hadn't been a concern as recently as late last month, when the league believed an 82-game season could still be squeezed in. Now it's looking like the best-case scenario is a regular season beginning on Dec. 1, which would likely see each team play just 68 games.

If that ends up being the case, a total of 210 games -- and all of the accompanying revenue -- would be lost for good.

continued