The NHL appeared poised to lock out players on Saturday as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said there were no further talks scheduled before the midnight deadline.

"We talked with the union this morning and in light of the fact that they have nothing new to offer, or any substantive response to our last proposal, there would be nothing gained by convening a bargaining session at this time," Daly told ESPN.com.

"I'm sure that we will remain in contact in the coming days," Daly added.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has vowed to lock out players for the second time in eight years if a new collective bargaining agreement wasn't hammered out by the time the current contract expires at midnight Eastern time (1400 AEST on Sunday).

On Thursday Bettman received a unanimous vote from NHL owners in support of such a move, which would be the fourth work stoppage in 20 years and the first since the entire 2004-05 NHL season was lost to a labour dispute.

This time the start of the season could be in jeopardy. Training camps are scheduled to open next week and the regular season is supposed to start on October 11.

In the contract that ended the lockout in 2005, players reluctantly accepted a salary-cap system and took an immediate 24 per cent rollback of existing contracts in 2005 in exchange for 57 per cent of hockey-related revenues.

The NHL now says that is too big a share.

The league originally wanted players to drop their share of hockey-related revenues to 43 per cent.

The owners then proposed to give the players 49 per cent in the first year, 48 per cent in the second year, and 47 per cent over the last four years of a six-year deal.

The NHLPA's latest proposal was a package that gave the players 54.3 per cent in the first year and ended at 52.7 per cent.

The parties are also divided on other issues, such as revenue sharing to help clubs that are struggling financially, length of player contracts and the age for free agency.