Two days before the deadline to preserve a full season, the National Hockey League and the Players' Association seem unlikely to reach an agreement. On Tuesday, the Players' Association offered to resume negotiations at any time, which the league declined. The NHL also sent a memo to owners and general managers to give them 48 hours to talk to players about the latest league offer. The Players' Association said that they were surprised about the memo, and that the league was allowing owners to talk to players about the offer, since most owners are not allowed in negotiations or allowed to speak to the press. The league said that they were the ones who had told owners not to talk to players, and that there was nothing illegal about the action. The NHL rejected three counteroffers from the union last week after the league offered a new proposal.
See "N.H.L. Tries to Circumvent Players Union, Drawing Ire", Jeff Z. Klein, The New York Times, October 23, 2012