National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman reiterated the North American league's position that it won't consider the players' proposed luxury tax to end their labor impasse.

　　"They claim that will fix our problems, I'm here to tell you today...that a luxury tax will not work and it will create a potential for future disaster in the NHL," Bettman said on Tuesday at an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Edmonton, Alberta.

　　The club owners locked out the players, prohibiting them from playing for their NHL clubs and stopping payment of their salaries, in September following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. The CBA sets general rules, such as minimum salary, arbitration of grievances, etc, that govern all player contracts.

　　The club owners are demanding "cost certainty," which the players union says is tantamount to a salary cap, which it will not accept.

　　Fifty days of the season and more than 318 games have been lost so far since the lockout began.

　　Bettman, who received a standing ovation at the end of his speech, also reiterated that the owners don't have a drop-dead date for when they would consider the 2004-05 season unrecoverable.

　　The NHL and NHLPA haven't had a formal collective bargaining session since September 9 in Toronto, when the league officially rejected the union's luxury tax-based proposal.

　　The league has said it doesn't believe in a luxury tax because it's not predictable and doesn't guarantee costs. On Tuesday, Bettman called a luxury tax "guesswork."

　　While the NHL is in a limbo, most players are in Europe where Peter Forsberg had two goals to lead Modo past defending champion HV71 3-1 on Tuesday night in the Swedish Elite League.

　　Forsberg, who had 18 goals and 37 assists last season with the Colorado Avalanche, has a league-leading 29 points from 10 goals and 19 assists in 23 games since returning to his hometown of Ornskoldsvik in northern Sweden following the start of the NHL lockout.

　　Modo is fifth in the 12-team league, arguably the best in Europe.

　　The league has more than 60 NHL players, more than any other European league. The majority have contract clauses that permit them to return to North America if and when the lockout ends.

　　(The Associated Press)