By Rob Rossi

Published: Saturday, December 1, 2012, 7:44 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Locked-out NHL players will receive a payment of $10,000 this month.

The Players' Association executive committee on Saturday voted in favor of the stipend payment. Players, who are paid twice monthly, missed a fourth paycheck Friday.

Players received an escrow check that covered most of their first two missed payments in late October.

Stipend payments were made during the last lockout, which wiped out the 2004-05 season. Future payments during this lockout require approval from the executive committee. Money for the payments is taken from a general union fund.

The lockout hits Day 78 Sunday. Games are canceled through Dec. 14, and no negotiations are scheduled. Federally mediated bargaining broke Thursday after two days.

The NHL has extended an offer for owners and players to meet without top officials in the room, including commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Donald Fehr. The NHL has declined to identify which owners would be available for that meeting.

The NHLPA has discussed that offer, but the union had not made a decision on it as of late Saturday.

The Penguins, a moderate in this labor dispute, have not been represented at bargaining sessions during the lockout. NHL bylaws require that a minority of eight clubs can grant Bettman authority on league matters such as lockout strategy.

The NHL and union are divided on definitions and split of revenue, money available to guarantee current players' contracts, and contractual issues such as free agency and max term limits.

Rob Rossi is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at rrossi@tribweb.com or 412-380-5635.

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