TORONTO — Faced with the threat of their sport being excluded from the Winter Olympics after 2014 because of a lack of competitiveness, women’s hockey officials have held preliminary discussions with the National Hockey League toward the possible formation of an N.H.L.-supported women’s league, figures from both sides confirmed here Thursday.

“I was in a meeting just this week with the N.H.L. and all the stakeholders in women’s hockey, and I think we have the ear of the N.H.L.,” said Hayley Wickenheiser, 32, a Canadian forward regarded as one of the greatest female players ever and the keynote speaker at the final day of the World Hockey Summit here.

“They’re looking at it right now from a sponsorship level to get it off the ground,” Wickenheiser said, referring to the N.H.L. “We’re not talking about big salaries, just sensible steps to get it on the ice to entertain people and see where it can go, and then down the road having an elite, W.N.B.A.-type league, which I think we could do.”

Bill Daly, the N.H.L. deputy commissioner, said the talks have taken place over a number of months and were very preliminary, but they are aimed at setting up a “women’s league or women’s competition.”

“We’ve talked about potential structures that might work, the need for a business plan, and our efforts to be helpful to the extent we can be,” Daly said.

Brian Burke, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, said his team, the wealthiest club in the N.H.L., supported the idea of a competition that would foster the development of women’s hockey.

“This morning Richard Peddie told me that we want to be leaders in this,” Burke said, referring to the chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

The sense of crisis surrounding women’s hockey emerged after the Vancouver Games. As in the previous three Olympic women’s tournaments, it was one-sided, with highly skilled teams from Canada and the United States dominating their European opponents. Canada beat Slovakia, 18-0, in one game; the United States beat Russia, 13-0, in another.

The Kings have reached an agreement with defenseman Willie Mitchell for a two-year contract worth $3.5 million per year.

The NHL Friday revealed the various potential rule changes, rink modifications and strategic innovations that will be tested during the 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp fueled by G Series August 18-19 .

The camp, which will comprise four on-ice sessions over two days at the Toronto Maple Leafs practice facility in Etobicoke, ON, will feature more than 30 of the top prospects eligible for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Participating players will be announced next week.

Wednesday August 18 (all times ET; subject to change)

10:00 a.m. – Noon
* Hybrid icing rule;
* No line change for team committing an offside;
* Crease reset rule;
* Face-off variation (face-off controlled by whistle in place of traditional puck drop);
* Overtime: three minutes of 4-on-4; three minutes of 3-on-3; three minutes of 2-on- 2 followed by shootout (5 players per team).

2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
* Bigger crease;
* Verification goal line (additional line situated behind the goal line);
* Wider blue lines;
* Line changes zone in front of each bench;
* Face-off variations (infringement results in the offending player moving back further, three face-off dots down the middle of the ice);
* No icing the puck while shorthanded;
* OT – three minutes of 4-on-4; three minutes of 3-on-3; three minutes of 2-on-2 with long line changes; followed by three shooters per team shootout (if tied after three shots then players who have shot previously can shoot again).

Thursday August 19 (all times ET; subject to change)

9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
* No touch icing;
* Team that commits an offside infraction cannot make a line change and face-off is in offending team zone;
* Face-off variation: after a face-off violation, opposition center may choose his face-off opponent;
* Second referee located off the playing surface;
* Delayed penalty rule
* No icing the puck while shorthanded;
* OT – 4-on-4 (with long line change) followed by a shootout with five players.

1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
* Variations of special teams play;
* OT – 4-on-4 (with long line change).

The Boston Bruins signed 18-year-old Tyler Seguin, the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft, to an entry-level contract, the Bruins announced Tuesday.

Terms of the deal were not released by the team, but sources said it is similar to the three-year deal top pick Taylor Hall signed with the Edmonton Oilers last month. That contract includes the maximum base salary of $900,000 per season, and bonuses that could max out at $3.75 million annually.

A BOMB! Yashin's agent Gandler to SovSport: "There is a [NHL] club that is always interested [in Yashin]. It is the #NYI."

Does Alexei have a possibility of coming back to the NHL, or is he fully concentrated on finding a job in [the KHL]?

There is a club that is constantly showing interest in him. It is the New York Islanders.

Alexei has a great relationship with its owner. That's why if he decides to come back to the NHL, then he will first have negotiations just with [the NYI owner]. However, I will be frank that this is a difficult step for the forward. Right now Alexei has just adapted to European-size rinks, got used to the KHL hockey, understood the tactics that lets him play in Russia with results. The reverse process will again require a lot of time. Hockey in the KHL and the NHL is too different.

And if you take the financial side of the question, it is more lucrative for Yashin to play in Russia. Therefore, the KHL is our priority right now. To run from league to league is not a good thing for a professional.

Oilers have agreed to terms with left-winger Taylor Hall on a three-year NHL entry level contract.

It's basically a given Taylor Hall gets the max entry level salary: $900k base with another $2.85-million in bonuses = $3.75-million total.

The New Jersey Devils kept one of their key players in the fold on Wednesday, signing winger David Clarkson to a three-year contract.

The deal is worth $8 million, with an average annual salary of about $2.67-million.

Clarkson, 26, was set to become a restricted free agent on Thursday and is coming off a 2009-2010 season that was marred by an ankle injury. In 46 games, Clarkson scored 11 goals, 24 points and recorded a plus-3 rating with 85 penalty minutes.

If Randy Gregg can do it, then Chris Nielsen can do it.

For what is believed to be just the second time in recent National Hockey League history, another player is working toward becoming a medical doctor.

The 30-year-old Nielsen, a former star player with the Calgary Hitmen and Columbus Blue Jackets centre, will enter his second year of medicine at the University of Calgary this fall.

After banging around in the minor pros for a number of seasons, and playing one more season in Germany, the former second-round draft choice of the New York Islanders decided it was time to get on with another life.

"I made the decision that I probably wasn't going to make it back to the NHL and I wanted to get started with the rest of my life before I got older," he said in an interview earlier this week. "So I started back to school in January of 2007, finished my bachelor of science degree at the University of Manitoba and was lucky enough to get accepted into the class of 2012 at the University of Calgary.

"I'm about a year into the program now and I'm quite enjoying it."

Why medicine for the six-foot-two, 200-pounder who played parts of two seasons with the Blue Jackets prior to the NHL lockout?

"It wasn't anything I thought about," confessed the father of two young girls. "When I started back to school, I honestly thought I'd go and do something environmental-wise, but once I got back to school and realized I was doing well, I asked myself if I could anything and school wasn't going to be a limitation, what would I do?

"I had an epiphany, I guess you could say, and medicine was the way I should go, and once I made that decision, I geared my studies toward that. The biggest thing was getting in. There's a lot of great candidates who apply every year and only a small fraction get accepted, so I was quite privileged to be a part of the faculty of medicine at the U of C.

"It's a wonderful program. . . . It's been a good year."