from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

The NHL is waiting for a compelling reason to bring to its owners in order to convince them to go to the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The NHL Players' Association feels it shouldn't have to give anything up to go. I agree with both sides. So what's the solution?

Here's an idea a few people have suggested to me over the past few days: What if the players were willing to give assurances they wouldn't opt out of the CBA in 2020 and would instead see the existing deal through to 2022? I think the NHL would potentially welcome that. Would it be enough for owners? Would players even want to pass up a chance to reopen the CBA in 2020, given their disdain for escrow payments and their desire to tweak (or limit) escrow in the next CBA?

I don't know the answer to either of those questions, but it seems to me that the idea of playing out the existing CBA and ensuring labor peace until 2022 could be beneficial to both sides, both in terms of Olympic participation next year as well as the next World Cup of Hockey in September 2020. Maybe I'm being too simplistic, but I think it's worth exploring. After all, both sides negotiated the CBA to 2022 to begin with. Is it that important to either side to reopen it in 2020?

more from the ESPN hockey crew on this topic...