from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reiterated his owners' current lack of interest in Olympic participation but his counterpart Donald Fehr painted a different picture of where things stand for the South Korea Games.

"I'm more optimistic now that I ever have been, at least as far as we're concerned, that we'll be able to reach an appropriate agreement with the IIHF to allow for the players to go," Fehr, the executive director of the NHL Players' Association, told assembled media before the Centennial Classic.

"So I assume there will be further discussions over the course of the next several weeks and I choose to be optimistic on this one. We'll see.'"

Asked why exactly he felt more optimistic now, Fehr didn't really have specific reasons.

"You get a sense of things as they go along, you get a sense of things and how they're likely to end up; doesn't mean you're always right, but you get a sense of things," said Fehr.

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