DETROIT, MI - As the NHL lockout continues, this week MLive Detroit will be looking at what it means for the local economy, such as the economic loss the area faces if in none of Red Wings' 43 homes games are played this year.

It's not a far-fetched possibility, either. In 2005 the NHL became the only American professional sports league to cancel an entire season, as it axed the 2004-05 playing year. A previous lockout shortened the 1994-1995 season to 48 games, and a players' strike postponed 30 games of the 1991-92 season by 30 games.

In the latest chapter of NHL lockouts, top officials from the NHL and the NHL Players' Association have been unable to see eye-to-eye on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

With the lockout now nine days old, Sports Illustrated reports that the players and league officials are still about $1 billion apart on financial issues.

ESPN reports that today, when players and league officials met, they merely hashed out the previous season's revenues. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told media outside the meeting in Toronto that the two sides will "hopefully" be able to get to bargaining talks by the end of the week.

As part of a new CBA, some of the key changes the league's team owners have proposed include reducing the players' share of league revenues by 11 percentage points, setting a maximum of five years to players' contracts and the elimination of so-called "front-loaded" contracts by instituting a uniform salary.

While some Detroit Red Wings players have remained optimistic that the current season will still be played in some shape or form, others are skeptical.

The NHL season is scheduled to begin Oct. 11.