(Reuters) - National Hockey League (NHL) and players' union representatives plan to meet again this week to try and end their bitter labor dispute that could wipe out the entire season.

The meeting follows a Saturday session between league deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) special counsel Steve Fehr that came a day after the NHL's premier event, the New Year's Day Winter Classic, was cancelled.

"We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us," Daly said in a statement released by the league on Sunday. "We plan to meet again early in the week."

Fehr, in a separate statement, expressed some hope.

"Hopefully we can continue the dialogue, expand the group, and make steady progress," Fehr said.

The session was the first since October 18 for the feuding sides, who are deadlocked over a new collective bargaining agreement centering on how to split $3.3 billion in annual revenue.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Julian Linden)