Hockey Deal Close

It seems that there may be an agreement for NHL participation in the Turin Olympics.

Officials from the NHL, the league's players association and executives of the International Ice Hockey Federation will meet today.

Bill Daly, the new NHL deputy commissioner, said:

"I understand the IIHF will have further meetings with participating federations later this week, and we expect to have a definitive answer on the contract by Monday,".

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman travelled to Moscow last Thursday, to negotiate with Russian hockey officials. The Russians refused to sign the agreement because its clubs unanimously rejected it. The Czechs then also refused to sign it.

The NHL's participation at the Olympics depends on the Russians and Czechs signing the player transfer agreement, which increases the compensation the NHL pays European federations in exchange for signing players.

Under the new plan, the NHL would pay $12.5M annually to a development fund managed by the sport's governing body; an increase of $3.5M.

The IIHF distributes the money among the national federations and clubs that lose players to the NHL, based on a formula devised by the IIHF and the national federations.

A new formula has been created to placate the Russian clubs, who regularly lose their top prospects to the NHL. Russian teams want to negotiate their own transfer deals directly with NHL clubs so they can get more money.