from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

You’re looking at a guy who still wears the scars of covering a few NHL lockouts in his day.

But I must say, what I’m hearing from both sides these days on the NHL labour front is almost unheard of for this sport.

You’re talking about a league that’s had three lockouts in 25 years.

But at this hour, for what it’s worth in the here and now, we seem to have two sides genuinely hoping to avoid missing games this time around.

Under the auspices of meeting a few times this season to salvage the 2020 World Cup of Hockey, including a positive get-together last week in Las Vegas, there’s been spill-over CBA chatter which well, has actually been positive....

“Talking in a substantive and meaningful way this far in advance of contract expiration can only be a good thing,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic on Monday.

more ($$$)