Getty ImagesDETROIT – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman continues to insist that the league is not exploring the relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes and there are multiple parties that could buy the team. In fact, he said Sunday that action is hotter than ever before.

“There seems to be more interest at this particular point in time than we’ve seen throughout the process,” Bettman said Sunday.

Of course, this is the same commissioner who scorned speculation that the Atlanta Thrashers would relocate – right up until the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and became the Jets. Of course, this is the same NHL that has owned the Coyotes, covered their losses and failed to sell them for years. And of course, just because the action is hotter than before doesn’t mean it will be hot enough for a deal.

But give Bettman a few things: As a lawyer, he is precise with his language. He is difficult to pin down, and he is persistent.

“We’re not planning on moving Phoenix as we stand here today,” Bettman said.

As we stand here today …

Is any decision imminent?

“No,” Bettman said. “When it becomes imminent, we’ll tell you. We apparently aren’t operating on the same time frame that a lot of [reporters] are.”

What is your time frame?

“One that works on getting this project completed in a successful way,” Bettman said. “This is a work in progress, and it remains such. We’re continuing to work on it, and there are a number of things that are in play.”

In a successful way …

Bettman said that means keeping the Coyotes in Glendale, Ariz.

APDETROIT – The NHL is not only considering more outdoor games. It is considering more overseas games. Chief operating officer John Collins referred Sunday to a “European business plan” and ideas ranging from resurrecting the World Cup to starting something like a champions league.

But first the NHL has to reach a deal to go to the Sochi Olympics, which are less than a year away now. There remain several open issues between the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee. The four organizations will meet this week.

“We’ve got to get to it sooner rather than later,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said, “because doing next year’s schedule is obviously impacted by whether or not we go to the Olympics.”

A primary issue appears to be insurance – who will pay to cover the contracts of NHLers putting their bodies at risk. But it goes beyond that. It includes branding and media rights for the NHL, access to venues for NHL officials and families, and transportation to and from Sochi. Bettman would not provide detail of how much progress has been made so far.

“There are lots of issues,” Bettman said. “This doesn’t get done until all the essential elements get done, and so it doesn’t pay to focus on any one or two issues.”

Mathieu Schneider, the special assistant to NHLPA executive director Don Fehr, said the Olympics would be “a logistical nightmare” but said he was optimistic a deal would get done. He praised IIHF president Rene Fasel for bringing the sides together.

“If it’s done properly, it could be an amazing hockey experience for everyone,” Schneider said. “Obviously the players want to go. The guys want to be there. That’s no secret.”

Collins said the fate of the Premiere Games is tied to the Olympic Games. The NHL is not expected to send teams to Europe to start the regular season if it sends players to Sochi in mid-season. But the NHL could stage more than the Premiere Games in the future. The NHL and the NHLPA are considering a nation-on-nation tournament like the World Cup and a champions league concept.

“Maybe we bring NHL teams over to play the best teams in Europe,” Collins said. “How do we stage that, and where do we play? That’s definitely something that we’re looking at.”

Getty ImagesDETROIT – The NHL isn’t satisfied with the return of the Winter Classic – not even a rescheduled match-up between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, expected to draw a record crowd of more than 110,000 to Michigan Stadium on New Year’s Day.

The League wants more. It thinks the fans want more. And so it could hold multiple outdoor games in the United States as soon as next season, raising revenues and the sport’s profile in more markets.

“It’s not necessarily a new conversation,” NHL chief operating officer John Collins said after a Winter Classic news conference at Joe Louis Arena. “We’ve been looking at this and talking about it for a while. But I think now we’re looking at it real hard.”

The Fourth Period reported the NHL is close to a deal for a game featuring the Los Angeles Kings at Dodger Stadium. Player agent Allan Walsh tweeted the deal was done and the game likely would take place on Hockey Day in America.

The Fourth Period also reported the NHL has been discussing a deal for a game featuring the New York Rangers and would prefer it to be played at Yankee Stadium. Writer Dave Pagnotta hinted at a Hockey Day in America doubleheader.

Collins and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman declined to give details. Collins said league officials were discussing ideas with the Board of Governors, individual teams and the NHL Players’ Association.

Asked specifically about the report of a game Dodger Stadium, Collins said: “It’s accurate from the standpoint of, we’re always looking at stuff. We have another finance committee meeting this week. So we’re laying out a lot of plans.”

Getty ImagesTORONTO – First, he called it “Groundhog Day.” Later, he called it “another Groundhog Day.”

NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell has been to many meetings of the league’s general managers. They talk about the same issues. They make slow progress.

After a seven-hour meeting Wednesday, there were three concrete ideas: Heightened awareness of goaltender interference by referees on shootouts; video review to see if the puck stops in shootouts; and, perhaps, expanding video review to include four-minute high-sticking penalties in the future. There were three other ideas that could be implemented soon but aren’t certain. The rest will have to wait until Gary Bettman sees his shadow or something.

The three with potential:

• Hybrid icing: The GMs recommended it. The rule would whistle icing plays dead unless the offensive player is winning the race to the puck, preserving the race but protecting defensemen from dangerous hits. The rule was tested in the American Hockey League during the lockout.

But the idea now goes to the competition committee, a body comprised of five players and five NHL executives, and the NHL Players’ Association would rather keep the status quo or even go to no-touch instead.

“Our managers had no time for the no-touch rule,” Campbell said. “The majority of our managers would like to see us use the hybrid icing next year. The players’ association told us they felt their players didn’t like hybrid icing.”

Getty ImagesTORONTO – Is the NHL Players’ Association ready to support a grandfathered visor rule?

The union at least will ask its members what they think. If they are in favor, the rule likely would go from the competition committee, to the NHL Board of Governors and into the book.

But we’ll see.

“We’re definitely going to look at talking to the guys about grandfathering them in,” said Mathieu Schneider, the special assistant to NHLPA executive director Don Fehr, at the NHL general managers’ meeting. “We’d probably do some type of poll.”

The NHL has been in favor of mandatory visors or at least a grandfathered rule, and the NHLPA has encouraged its members to wear visors. But the league cannot force the players to wear visors without their consent, and the last time the NHLPA polled its members, they were heavily in favor of personal choice over a grandfathered rule.

If a grandfathered rule is introduced, players entering the NHL would be required to wear a visor the same way they were a lower levels. Those already in the league would keep personal choice.

Getty ImagesST. PAUL, Minn. – Corey Perry said he had seen the replay a couple of times. He can only hope NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan and the Department of Player Safety see it the same way.

“I was committed to the hit,” Perry said Tuesday night after getting tossed for drilling Jason Zucker in the Anaheim Ducks’ 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. “It’s one of those things. I didn’t change my path of direction. I was committed. I tried to let up. It’s hard. It happens so fast. It’s unfortunate.”

Did he intend to hit Zucker in the head?

“No,” Perry said. “I don’t go out there looking to hurt guys. That’s not the way I am. That’s not me as a person. It is what it is.”

It was ugly.

[Related: Anaheim's Perry suspended four games by NHL for hit on Jason Zucker]

The puck caromed off the right-wing boards in the Anaheim zone. Zucker threw the puck back up the boards toward the blue line, and he kept looking to his right as he curled to the left.

Perry was indeed committed to the hit at that point. As he said: “My feet don’t change direction.” And it did happen fast.

But the puck was long gone, by the split-second standards of lateness in the NHL. And did Perry let up? It’s hard to see that. He kept his elbow down, but he put his right shoulder straight into Zucker’s head. His feet left the ice. Both players went flying because of the force, and one didn’t get up.

Getty ImagesAh, the fine print.

Amid all the headline-grabbing stuff since NHL labor talks broke down Thursday -- "We're close!" "No, we're not!" -- lost were some of the details. And the devil is in the details.

Here are some key things that went unreported:

• The NHL Players' Association backed off on its proposal that the players' share could not go backwards in terms of dollars starting in Year 2. It had been a non-starter for the NHL.

Basically, under the players' previous proposal, their combined pay would drop in Year 1 as their percentage of hockey-related revenue dropped from 57 to 50. After that, their combined pay would never be less than the previous year, even if HRR went down.

Executive director Don Fehr said the players were making massive concessions and they wanted protection on the downside in exchange. But that would have penalized the NHL for a bad year -- or even a good year that followed a great year. Had HRR fallen for any reason, the players' percentage would have risen above 50.

The owners want a true 50-50 split after the make-whole/transition payments (which came off the table Thursday but could go back on, if and when talks resume this week.) That's why they are opposed to compliance buyouts and caps on escrow -- money outside the system.

NEW YORK -- The NHL Players' Association made a proposal Thursday it feels should lead to a quick resolution of the NHL lockout. Executive director Don Fehr said the sides were close.

But the owners not only rejected that proposal, they pulled key elements off the table -- the concept of so-called "make-whole" payments, which were intended to cushion the blow to current contracts as the players' share of revenue dropped from 57 to 50, plus everything they added this week in an effort to reach a deal. Commissioner Gary Bettman said it was unfair for the PA to spin everyone into an "emotional frenzy." Deputy Bill Daly said the union was "cherry picking."

In short: kaboom.

Labor talks blew up, and no one knows what happens next. The owners also told the players there was no reason to meet Thursday night or Friday. Bettman said the owners needed to take a breath.

Fehr said the players offered "a clear outline to end this dispute" when a group of them met with Daly and league lawyer Bob Batterman. Bettman did not attend. Neither did any owners.

But Bettman said the union's proposal ignored essential elements the owners had outlined. Daly said this was a package deal and the union ignored how everything tied together.

"It's easy to say keep negotiating," Bettman said. "At some point, you have to be in a position to say, 'This is what we need.' "

Bettman declined to give a drop-dead date, but he saiid the NHL would cancel the season when the integrity of the game was compromised. The league settled a lockout on Jan. 11, 1995, and played a 48-game season. He said he couldn't imagine playing fewer games than that.

"We are where we are, as horrible as it is," Bettman said.

Fehr said the sides had agreed on money. The league's last make-whole proposal was $300 million. That was tied to a 10-year agreement with an opt-out after Year 8, however. The players proposed an eight-year deal with an opt out after Year 6.

The players proposed eight years for max length of contracts; the owners had proposed five, or seven if a team re-signed its own player. The players proposed existing contract rules to handle back-diving cap-circumventing contracts, while the lowest year could not be 25 percent lower than the highest year, while the owners proposed salaries could not vary more than five percent from year to year.

Fehr said the players hoped they had agreed to a pension plan, paid for by the players, and the sides needed to discuss transition rules to go from the last agreement to the new one. He said he hoped this would put the sides "on the road to a quick resolution."

"The players have gone a very, very long way," Fehr said. "The players have done far and away the lion's share."

But Daly left NHLPA outside counsel Steve Fehr a voicemail saying the owners had rejected the agreement. Fehr said the players would talk internally and discuss their next step. He declined to discuss dissolution of the union, other than to say it was an option. Bettman said the board of governors was briefed on that possibility Wednesday and that the league doesn't think it would have the impact others do.

Follow Nick Cotsonika on Twitter at @Cotsonika