from John Shannon of Sportsnet,

I truly expect very little to happen in the New Year's Eve negotiations. If the Players’ Association puts forward major differences from what the NHL proposed on Thursday night, we will see this league go down a path that no one could ever have foreseen.

If the players work within the framework of the 288 pages that the NHL proposed, we have a chance to salvage a season, playoffs and a Stanley Cup Champion. And while it appears some of the pension, health and safety issues between the two sides are easily bridged, we will hear that "transition" and "compliance" issues are too far apart at this time.

Read that to mean, how can the players receive as much of the dollars they’ve been contracted to receive before the partners share revenues 50-50?

And, just as important, how will the 40 per cent of players, who are actual free agents right now, get as much as the new system will allow.

As an aside, we have read and heard about teams that are already at or above the $60-million cap the league has proposed. I have little sympathy for those teams because over the past year or so the NHL has been hinting that a new system would penalize teams that were overly aggressive in signing players to new long term deals, particularly in the summer of 2012.

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Also, watch below as the Sportsnet hockey experts, Mendes, Kypreos, Shannon, Grange and Morrison chime in with what to expect in today's CBA meeting.