MUCH LIKE the movie character Carrie reaching up through the grave, the NHL corpse is somehow still breathing. Whether it’s simply a death rattle or an actual resurrection is something we should know far better by the end of the weekend.

So many of the stories have been false. So many of the wild rumors have been ground in nothing more than hopes and fantasy. But this much is known: With the leadership of both sides having come under relentless pressure from their respective constituencies since Gary Bettman canceled the 2004-05 season at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the league and union have reached out to one another in a final effort to avoid turning the NHL landscape into a dump more toxic than Love Canal.

Sources have told The Post that a meeting is planned today in Manhattan that is expected to include NHL Board members Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, league VP Bill Daly, NHLPA president Trevor Linden, VP Bill Guerin and senior director Ted Saskin, with at least some of the participants having met here yesterday and last night in an effort to establish a framework to achieve a peace-with-honor hard-cap $45M deal that would perhaps be phased in over the next two years. The Post reported yesterday that the league had sent signals to the PA that it would be amenable to receiving an offer from the union at that number.

While Bob Goodenow has been under intense scrutiny from the rank-and-file, Bettman, too, has his own issues with which to contend. Not only has ESPN made it clear that it may exercise its freedom of choice not to televise the league next year, not only have a significant number of mid- and large-market teams urged the commissioner to get on with the victory lap, but The Post has learned of warnings from a major advertiser that it will move its money elsewhere if a deal is not completed in timely fashion.

Whether an agreement in principle would actually prompt launch of a truncated season – or simply a come-one-come-all Stanley Cup Tournament that might appeal to NBC and ESPN – is unknown.

Though both sides would like the revenue, reviving a cancellation would be a logistical nightmare and produce even more fodder for the late-night comedians. Refunds already have gone out in the mail. Arena dates have been released. Team employees have been fired. Beyond that, the product itself will be more than a nightmare. Hundreds of players are unsigned. Hundreds are in Europe. Hundreds are out of shape.

Certainly, it would seem more prudent to announce a deal in order to create an orderly transition into the offseason, but, then, when has the NHL ever been prudent?

NHLPA executive board members conducted a series of conference calls with player reps yesterday that followed days of unrest within the union.

We’re told the PA confirmed to its members that Jeremy Roenick met with Bettman without the prior knowledge or authority of the union. We’ve learned, too, of reports the last few days that a group of players and agents were meeting to construct their own proposal are inaccurate. So, too, was it inaccurate that the executive committee wanted to present the league with a hard-cap counter-proposal of $46M but was overruled by Goodenow.

Even as the union appears prepared to deal with the reality of today and not the should-haves of yesterday and what-ifs of tomorrow, there are still a number of miserly, hardline ownership hawks who oppose raising the bar to the mid-40s. As if with meaningful alterations to salary arbitration and qualifiers – they’d ever be under pressure to spend that much. As if a team with a $30M payroll can’t compete with one at $42.5M.

Still, with so much exposure on both sides, it seems as if a grave situation may be resolved. One should, however, beware of the 2004-05 mutant an agreement might produce.