The board also extended through the 2000-01 season the aid program that helps the six heavily taxed Canada teams compensate for the weak Canadian dollar.

And, with goaltenders increasingly being bumped and pushed since the relaxation of the in-the-crease rule, referees are being instructed to make certain such contact isn't causing goals.

Meeting with the board a day before the NHL All-Star game, Bettman said there is strong but not unanimous sentiment to sending players to the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.

"They authorized me to conclude the agreement that might have us go to the Olympics," Bettman said. "But it is not yet concluded, and we still might not go. But, if it is all worked out, I have the authority to take the league through the Olympic process."

The International Ice Hockey Federation is working with the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee to finalize a schedule acceptable to the NHL. The league does not want to shut down again for two weeks, as it did for Nagano in 1998, and instead is looking for a window of 12 days or so.

Also, the NHL wants television exposure for Olympic hockey, which, because of concerns over low ratings and time zone differences, was relegated in Nagano mostly to the early morning hours on the East Coast.

"I don't want to read headlines tomorrow saying we're going," Bettman said. "But, if we work this out, I don't have to go back to the board for us to go."

The Canadian assistance program was extended in December for five years in anticipation of a Canadian government bailout worth about $20 million annually. But, amid a public outcry over using tax dollars to support the privately owned franchises, the government pulled the plug on the program only a couple days after approving it last month.

The five-year extension of the NHL-backed plan was contingent upon the Canadian government program going forward. So, for now, the NHL will decide on a year-to-year basis whether to extend its own plan.

Canadian teams are at a distinct financial disadvantage because they collect their revenues mostly in Canadian dollars, but pay salaries in American dollars. The Calgary Flames currently reap about $3 million annually from the NHL aid plan.

The Ottawa Senators, the team expected to benefit most from the Canadian government bailout, say they must sell 12,500 season tickets next year and increase luxury box revenues to survive.

Bettman criticized the Canadian government pullout, saying, "Others might have abandoned the Canadian clubs, but we are not about to."

The greater emphasis on eliminating goaltender obstruction is not a tweaking of the rules, NHL operations chief Colin Campbell said.

But referees were instructed Wednesday in a conference call to make certain that contact around the goal mouth isn't giving an unintended advantage to the team with the puck.

Only days after the Stanley Cup playoffs ended on Brett Hull's disputed goal, the NHL altered the rule that wiped out goals when even part of a player's skate was in the crease.

But, Campbell said, "Players are finding ways to bump the goaltenders, and the referees understand the goaltenders need more protection.

"But we think the changes in the crease rule are great. We wanted to cut down on the use of video replays, and we have."