from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

If good faith existed here, now would be the time for Don Fehr, who had a second-round of private talks with Bettman yesterday, and the NHLPA to make the proposal that could save the 82-game schedule. But it doesn’t. This is a fast-track lockout with, and you had better believe this, a drop-dead date already established by the Boardroom powers-that-be that could be as early as Thanksgiving.

Thus, the union faces the distinct possibility — if not likelihood — such an offer would be interpreted by Bettman and his hawks as a sign of weakness and evidence of a crack in the players’ resolve to lose another season and as evidence the deal will only become better for the owners once the athletes miss three or four paychecks.

It is the owners’ commissioner who doesn’t believe in win-win negotiating, even when the by-product of such an approach represents a loss for the NHL as a brand and a credible operation.

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