NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said on Monday that owners still want the regular season to begin as scheduled, NHL.com reported Monday.
Daly said he hopes negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement will resume this week, although nothing has been scheduled.
The NHL and NHL Players' Association have not had a formal negotiating session since Sept. 12.
Preseason games through Sept. 30 have already been cancelled. But owners still hope the 2012-13 NHL regular season will begin Oct. 11 as scheduled.
"We're 100 percent focused on not missing any regular-season games and hopefully we can achieve that objective," Daly said, according to NHL.com. "Obviously, we've got to talk before you can get a deal, so I think it's important to get the talks going again. But you also have to have something to say. I think it's fair to say we feel like we need to hear from the Players' Association in a meaningful way because I don't think that they've really moved off their initial proposal, which was made more than a month ago now."
Although no CBA negotiations have been scheduled, Daly said the issue may arise Monday night at the NHL Alumni Awards Gala Dinner, an event in Toronto that will be attended by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Daly, NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr and players union special counsel Steve Fehr.
Daly also said about 99 percent of the players' salary that was withheld in escrow for the 2011-12 season will be returned to the players.