I don’t think there’s any question that [the gap between the NHL and NHLPA might get wider]. The next big date that I’m looking for beyond the mediation is Wednesday, December 5^th in New York City, the National Hockey League board of governors. There’s a lot of speculation that at that point a lot of governors in the National Hockey League, the owners, will tell Gary Bettman, ‘okay, the $211 million “make whole” that we have on the table as an offer to the players, let’s take it back.’ That was initially put out to get an 82-game schedule, to help offset the difference between 57 to 50 percent and getting in 82 games, or getting in 70+ games. With each passing day, we’re getting a smaller and smaller potential schedule and a lot of owners don’t believe that money should continue to be on the table. It’ll be interesting to see if that gets voted out.

The next week or two for me is huge. I know the conventional wisdom is until the season is on the line much later in December or January, that’s the crucial point not now. But if that $211 million genuinely comes off the table it puts everyone that much further behind where we were, and we weren’t in very good shape to begin with.

-Bob McKenzie of TSN during an Insider Trading (video) segment, via Jonathan Willis of The Cult of Hockey.