CHICAGO (AP) — NHL players are getting a better grasp on the issues at hand as the union braces for negotiations with owners on a new collective bargaining agreement.

For the 55 players in attendance, Tuesday was an educational day. They broke off into three groups to study the issues and share their ideas as they try to hammer out a strategy before formal talks begin.

They have been meeting in Chicago, where three days of meetings are scheduled to wrap up today. That is when the union says it will announce its negotiating committee, with more than 30 players expected to serve.

Players association executive director Don Fehr said Monday that negotiations on a new CBA will begin “very quickly” — perhaps as early as this week.

Exactly how the sides approach the talks remains to be seen, but the players are mindful of what they gave up last time.

The NHL canceled the 2004- 05 season before a deal was reached that included a salary cap for the first time. The current CBA expires Sept. 15.

The landscape is different this time.

The players are now being led by Fehr, the former head of the powerful baseball union. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said last month that the league had record revenues in excess of $3.1 billion, although he wouldn’t say what the profit was.

How the revenue gets divided figures to be a big sticking point as the NHL tries to avoid becoming the third major league in recent memory to go through a work stoppage.

Fehr has shown signs that he won’t be a pushover.

The players association scuttled the league’s plans to realign and switch from two three-division conferences to four seven- or eight-team conferences in January, because it was not consulted.

Now, they appear to be digging in.