«[Commissioner Gary Bettman , in an online chat with fans, said that reaching a new collective agreement with the players] is not about compromise. It's about doing the right thing to ensure that the game and the franchises are healthy. ... It's unfortunate that [he] does not see compromise as the way to get a deal done. That attitude is what has prevented us from having any meaningful negotiations that can lead to a fair deal for both sides. It is disturbing that their only response is to say they have all the solutions and there can be no compromise.»

«We resumed small group meetings with the league this week and spent the better part of four full days discussing a wide range of issues. Further small group meetings are scheduled starting Monday in Toronto.»

«To date, the NHL has not given us any signal that they're prepared to negotiate a compromise.»

«Bill knows that the concepts they discussed with us on Thursday would not form the basis for an agreement, so he should not be surprised that he hasn't heard from us. We were very clear on Thursday that we would not be negotiating over his proposed concepts.»

«Hopefully the lessons learned from our prior history of unsuccessful negotiations can provide a basis for this restart to take place in an atmosphere conducive to making more progress this time.»

«I am concerned that the NHL is not serious about developing new concepts together and remains fixated on measuring all of our proposed concepts against a linked, hard-cap system. I fail to see how we can make any progress if the NHL maintains their single-track approach.»

«It was not a viable strategy, nor did it make sense.»

«I don't think it will further the process to respond to comments like those from Jeremy Jacobs suggesting the available deal only gets worse with the passage of time. Obviously the owners' decision to cancel the season will have negative impact on everyone associated with our industry and unfortunately this has been the preferred route to take by owners like Jeremy Jacobs.»

«Of equal importance is a discussion on whether the NHL is prepared to move in the direction of having a real revenue sharing program. We are certainly looking forward to hearing what they have developed in this area.»

«That's part of the (collective bargaining) agreement. Obviously, a lot of people have noted that type of situation and it's something I raised as a concern to the membership.»