PALM BEACH -- One would think, when you pack as many rich men into one room as the National Hockey League did on Monday, that their combined paper losses over the past few months would make them a hard group to impress.

Commissioner Gary Bettman managed to do just that at The Breakers however, subjecting the board of governors, owners and many of the league’s general managers to some frank discussion about what might be the league’s economic future.

"Sobering," said Edmonton Oilers president and CEO Patrick Laforge, moments after walking out of a board room that featured lectures from banking types from both the United States and Canada. "This wasn’t just hockey related today," said Ottawa governor Roy Mlakar. "We have never been in this position in my twenty-who-knows-how-many years in the National Hockey League. We’ve never seen anything like this. And I give Gary and Bill [Daly] credit for having the foresight to know that we should have people who are experts in this industry come in and tell us what they think is going on, what the long-term forecasting is."

Even though these businessmen have all paid close attention to the global economic downturn, "They went into it deeper," Laforge said. "Job losses, the depth and the length, in their view, of the recession. It was sobering. I hadn’t heard it in that kind of detail, and if you’re in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, you’re just not running into a lot of US economists. You get a bit of a Western Canadian view.

"When you look at all of North America, it becomes a little a more dark and deep."

As predicted, talk of the struggling economy hijacked the league’s board of governor meetings, with one governor guessing that they addressed only two of roughly 20 topics on the agenda.

Earlier in the day, sportsnet.ca's Jim Kelley had broken the story that the Buffalo Sabres were up for sale, adding fuel to the fire. If a profitable team in a good hockey market was on the block, what of cash- and fan-strapped franchises like Phoenix, Florida, Nashville and the New York Islanders?

"Part of what you see is a result of fear," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, when asked if there was a need to remain calm in a bad economy. "Fear feeds on fear. You really don't want to have a sense of panic where people can't operate in the normal course.

"Having said that, they have to understand what the realities are too and they have to operate their businesses accordingly."

Jeremy Jacobs, the Boston Bruins owner and chairman of the board of governors, knows first hand that trouble has already arrived. Despite the fact the Bruins led the Eastern Conference heading into play Monday. "Business is going to be difficult in Boston next year, I know. It’s difficult now," he said.

This year’s season ticket deposits and in-house advertising packages are already bought, and mostly paid for. They were sold before the bottom dropped out of the economy. Selling those items for the 2009-10 season could be far more difficult. Other sports have already been affected by the global crunch. Race teams have dropped out of NASCAR and F1 auto racing. The NBA has gone through layoffs at their corporate offices, closing its Los Angeles office and paring office staff by 9 per cent.

The NHL has not had to lay off staff yet, and league staff went to great pains to tell reporters here that they would have chosen a less tony -- and ridiculously expensive -- gathering place than The Breakers, had the league not had a large, non-refundable deposit down on this week’s meeting space.

"Clearly we have a hiring freeze," Daly said. "But at this point we’re not eliminating positions. We’re just looking to cut expenses all over the organization."

"We don't think any industry and certainly no team is recession-proof," said Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke. "Teams are owned by seasoned businesspeople. Most of these guys have been through some type of setback financially in the past. There's no panic that I could see in there.

In other news, the governors did find time to discuss a further foray into Europe. They’ll continue investigating a way into the European continent, perhaps by investment into the Champions League, a tournament for European club teams.

On Tuesday the collective bargaining agreement will make its way on to the agenda. Governors will talk about options should the NHL Players’ Association exercise their right to re-open the CBA, and will be informed that -- with revenues not expected to feel the dip as much this season as next -- the salary cap likely won’t budge much for next season.

The year after that however, it could dip mightily.