from Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Bay Times,

The problem, St. Louis said, is the current CBA, which cut player salaries 24 percent after the 2004-05 lockout, "was (the owners') deal. And now that deal is not good anymore, so it's hard. It's hard to negotiate like that."

St. Louis stressed the union is "very strong, together, more than last time, no doubt about that."

He also said, "I believe in deadlines and I think a lot is going to happen in the next month. Hopefully we get a deal done."

If not, St. Louis said he expects to be playing in Europe by mid October: "If it gets to October it usually means (a lockout) will go longer, so mid October is a fair assessment where I'm not going somewhere for two weeks. ... You have to be patient before you go to Europe, but it's definitely an option guys will look into."

a bit more