from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,
While we await the NHL and NHL Players’ Association to resume talks -- no scheduled sessions at this point -- here’s a little nugget I found interesting from the summer’s negotiating sessions: The league has proposed to the NHLPA to have free agency start July 10 instead of the long-standing July 1 opening day, two sources told ESPN.com.
Small potatoes compared to the big economic issues both sides are arguing about, but nonetheless interesting at least to me.
For years, many of us have talked about how silly it was for the NHL to conduct some of its biggest business on July 1, a national holiday in hockey-mad Canada, and just a few days from the July 4 U.S. holiday. Talk about not maximizing your coverage for big signings.
And yes, I will admit for the sake of full disclosure that I have continually harangued NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and second-in-command Bill Daly about this very issue.
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