from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

I am en route to New York for two potentially newsworthy days in Lockout Loopiness 2012. The no Fehr, no Bettman meeting is Tuesday afternoon with the NHL board of governors getting together Wednesday morning.

As you might expect, everyone is angry -- owners, executives, coaches, players, agents, fans, workers and sponsors. People are absolutely miserable. There is not a single positive thing you can say about the NHL right now, except joking that your favourite team is undefeated. And even that one's getting stale.

There are widely differing opinions on Tuesday's meeting. While there is some optimism in the fact that new blood will be introduced on the owner's side -- "No one wants to play more than [Pittsburgh Penguins boss] Ron Burkle," said one governor -- there is still a lot of negativity.

A lot of players want the opportunity to be in there. On one hand, that's a good thing because you want them to be engaged, but some of the moderate general managers and executives are concerned what it really means is confrontation, especially if the newly included owners simply are there to explain why the league can't move any further.

continued