Pittsburgh Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby believes that the labor dispute between the NHL and NHL Players Association has reached a critical point in the process.
With the NHL having already canceled all games through Nov. 30 in addition to the 2013 Winter Classic, Crosby believes that the next round of discussions set to begin on Tuesday will determine whether anything close to a full season will be played, via Dave Molinari:
"It's definitely an important time, considering the timing of everything, knowing in the back of our minds that it's probably the last chance to get anything close to a full season."
After engaging in discussions via phone and e-mail last week, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr met all day on Saturday, ending their meeting around 1 a.m., ET. The talks were beneficial enough, that the two sides determined a round of negotiations should resume in New York City on Tuesday.
As of this time, it's unclear whether NHL commissioner Gary Bettman or NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr will attend the session on Tuesday.