2012 NHL Lockout: Formal Talks To Resume Tuesday in New York

I highly doubt we will hear much post-mtng reax from either side Tues. Less is more as talks enter a very critical phase.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) November 5, 2012

Face to face meetings between the NHLPA and the NHL are set to resume Tuesday and they are expected to include the big players in Gary Bettman and Don Fehr. Enough progress was made during an informal meeting between Steve Fehr and Billy Daly Saturday evening to warrant resumption of talks.

Those two discussed... something, Saturday. And they agreed on... Well, we don't know.

It's that lack of information that has people wondering if this could be the beginning of the end, and it's a continued lack we'll be looking for tomorrow and hopefully beyond. Many speculate that only when the two sides cease negotiating publicly can real progress be made.

One NHL team exec telling me ''some movement'' w/weekend CBA talks, but not convinced will prove meaningful.

— Kevin Paul Dupont (@GlobeKPD) November 5, 2012

Focus will continue to be on the core economics moving forward. Friday brought news that the owners offered to absorb a portion of the "make whole" provision, but details of how that would work are unknown and some players and agents are calling it more "smokescreen" from the owners.

The NHLPA is holding a conference call this afternoon with their executive board and the negotiating committee.

Adrian Dater reported yesterday that "Steve Fehr's and Bill Daly's talks yesterday were very general. While there IS an uptick in overall optimism, right now that can only be truly classified as slight until the details get more into the nitty-gritty." [link]

The Stars' schedule, as is, has 58 game remaining on it. Those inclined to hope wonder if 4-6 games can be added to the existing slate, or at the end. 62 or 64 games and a full playoff would feel like an absolute embarrassment of riches at this point.

There may not be any real reason to be optimistic at this point, but we're kidding ourselves if we pretend we're not hoping. Really hard.