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The NHL and the NHL Players Association have scheduled three days of meetings over the weekend to open the lines of communication about resolving the league's lockout, according to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
According to The Sporting News, the two sides will meet to discuss "non-core economic issues," which means that the most pressing issue in the disagreement – the hockey-related revenue split – is not on the agenda.
These negotiations will be the first formal talks since Sept. 12, when the players and owners exchanged their initial proposals.
To date, the lockout has led to the cancellation of the league's entire preseason schedule. Those preseason games were slated to run until Oct. 8, just three days before the scheduled start of the NHL's regular season on Oct. 11. With the preseason completely wiped out, the NHL's regular season games now seem to be in real jeopardy.