N.H.L. Contract Issues Are Final Hurdle in Talks After a week of negotiations, the N.H.L. and its players association have drawn close to agreement on several key issues, remaining far apart in only one main area: players" contract rights. That area remains thorny and could delay an end to the N.H.L. lockout, which reached its 57th day Sunday and concluded with gloomy news briefings from Bill Daly, the N.H.L. deputy commissioner, and Donald Fehr, the union's executive director. The sides remain divided over when players can become eligible for free agency, among other contract issues. But the two sides have made far more progress toward ending the lockout than is widely believed, according to a member of the union delegation who has attended the talks. "We're basically there" in several areas, according to the union delegate, who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. Fehr and Commissioner Gary Bettman met Sunday afternoon at the N.H.L. office in New York along with their deputies for less than two hours of discussions on contract rights. Afterward, the two delegations broke to leave for Toronto and Monday's Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Daly told reporters that "contract rights issues are very important to the clubs" and that because of the wide gulf between the two sides on those issues, "I don't know where to go." Fehr said he did not "see a path to an agreement" on contract rights. But lost amid the gloom is the progress the league and union have made in six straight days of talks. They are fairly close on the critical issue of honoring existing contracts, according to the union delegate. The issue of finding a way to pay players with existing contracts in full under a lower salary cap - or settling on a "make whole" provision, in the language of the negotiations - had been a stumbling block in previous weeks. But by Sunday, the two sides were $2 million to $3 million apart per team, per year, an amount the delegate described as "within spitting distance." The league and union are even closer to agreement on revenue sharing among clubs, with a plan described as basically done except for administrative details. The system will be significantly expanded compared with the N.H.L."s current system, with more teams qualifying for revenue sharing and more money distributed. The system will include a small fund, similar to baseball's industry growth fund, that Bettman can specially earmark for the neediest franchises - presumably teams like Phoenix, the Islanders, Columbus and Florida. But big obstacles remain on the issue of contract rights. Under the collective bargaining agreement that expired Sept. 15, players whose contracts had expired were eligible for free agency if they were 27 or had seven years of N.H.L. service. The league is seeking to raise those thresholds to 28 and eight years of experience. The league is also seeking to restrict players" rights to go to salary arbitration, and to limit the term of contracts to five years. Under the previous system, there were no limits. The union delegate characterized the league's stance on player contract issues as "very draconian" and said, "We're very, very far apart" in that area. According to published reports, confirmed by those present at Friday's bargaining session, Bettman told Fehr that no deal was possible unless the union agreed to all of the league's proposed changes to player contract rights. "The owners made it clear that there is no give with respect to any of their proposals," Fehr told reporters after Sunday's meeting. That unless players are prepared to take - and this is my phrase, not theirs - down to the comma, that there's nothing to do. But the union delegate also stressed the "very professional" tenor of the negotiations on both sides. Reports emerged Friday of a shouting match between players and owners at the end of that day's meeting. But the delegate said the exchange was "extremely brief" and stood out only because of its rarity. The exchange was between the free-agent defenseman Chris Campoli and Winnipeg defenseman Ron Hainsey on one side, and the owners Murray Edwards of Calgary and Craig Leipold of Minnesota on the other. The delegate called descriptions of the incident a "major exaggeration." "No one would have noticed it but for the fact that these meetings are very, very professional - no one even raises their voice," he said.