Last night a news report from a somewhat obscure source, allowed fans of the NHL a moment of hope and optimism.
The hope that lingered in the air last night has been quickly extinguished this morning with a who’s who of the hockey world stepping forward to deny the reports that originated out of Boston on Monday evening. At this point, fans of the NHL are used to that kind of disappointment.
For those that missed yesterday’s circus, essentially a sports reporter in Boston, from a station “plugged in” to the Bruins organization, suggested that there had been significant progress towards a new CBA and a deal could be announced as soon as today or tomorrow. It was a development that blindsided the entire hockey world, particularly with the much talked about Players vs. Owners meetings set for this afternoon in New York.
Unfortunately, Bob McKenzie and all the rest were quick to pour water on the reports this morning. And for what it’s worth, the two people I spoke with yesterday evening said they had heard nothing close to what was coming out of Boston and like everyone else, would be surprised if it were true.
Obviously this is just another frustrating turn in this process for loyal NHL fans (assuming there are any left) that have been left out in the cold during this process.
While the hint of optimism was denied by many, you have to assume Burton had a quality source feeding him this information. He has been pretty quiet on the NHL lockout and for him to run with this story (and on multiple fronts) tells me that he was confident in the scoop and that it was coming from a trusted source.
Look forward to hearing more from Burton on what he thinks happened here.
Meanwhile, the NHL and NHLPA are busy preparing for the next stage in negotiations which comes today in New York when six owners (Burkle- Penguins, Chipman-Winnipeg, Edwards-Calgary, Tanenbaum-Toronto, Vinik-Tampa Bay) and Jacobs-Boston) meet with an unspecified number of players. The group of players is likely to include Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby.
That meeting will get underway around 2:00 PM.
