Well, how about that Gary Bettman! Is one really working towards a settlement when they present something as a final, non-negotiable offer?

Here's an assortment of stuff I could find:

The Toronto Star's Damien Cox:

The NHL has humbled its players' union, a group heretofore considered all but invincible after a decade of piling one economic victory over the league's owners upon another.

Incredibly, however, it may still not be enough.

With the players shocking the industry by offering successively lower salary cap concepts over the past two days, and with the NHL Players Association having already swallowed a 24 per cent across-the-board pay cut, the league told the union late last night that was still not nearly enough to begin a truncated version of the 2004-05 season after a destructive five-month lockout.

The union responded after midnight with the terse note: "You will receive nothing further from us."

Eighty-six years ago, an outbreak of the Spanish flu killed the chase for the Stanley Cup. Today, only an insatiable lust for total victory can do the same.

The Star's Rosie DiManno argues the season should simply be killed off at this point.

A news story: Players give in on salary cap issue

Lots o'good coverage at TSN.ca's NHL home page.

Sleepy time!