from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

“Man, it’s nuts right now,” he said.

The source is involved in the negotiations and all the phone calls right now happening between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, and the many calls going on internally within each respective side.

Why is it nuts?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe because the NHL and NHLPA are attempting to hammer out the complicated layers to the Phase 3 and Phase 4 Return to Play agreement while at the same time negotiating a CBA extension in their free time.

Holy mama.

And here’s the catch, that CBA extension, or at least the Memo of Understanding, has become so intertwined with Return to Play that one source suggested Thursday it’s probably all going to be presented as one package to the players at some point before the end of the month.

read on ($$$)