No owners. No Bettman. NHLPA making a proposal and NHL waiting to respond. Fascinating. Something is afoot.

The feeling I am getting is Donalad Fehr is looking to buy time. He feels the best offer from the NHL has yet to come and he is testing that out.

Bettman not being here could be a sign of his frustration or something else.

Emotions are at a low point after so much optimism. But to be honest, no one knows what comes next.

It sounds like we are going to get a press conference, however. They are setting up the media room, moving stuff around. It's early in the night, but folks are testing microphones.

There is a very strange feeling in this room, and a lot of confusion. Nothing we have seen today would lead us to believe we are getting good news ... but we really don't know.

This could be a short meeting, unless the players' proposal surprises everyone..

There is a very distinct ebb and flow to this ordeal. We tend to make some progress, then the sides get pissed off and lose momentum, and then we build up to progress again. We continue to move forward so I am optimistic there will be an NHL season. The big question as I see it is "Does the NHL want it to start December 25th... or January 18th?"

Be careful not to think that these moments of setbacks spell doom for the entire season ...they don't. The sides are too close for that. We are playing hockey this year, we just don't know when there will be an agreement that allows it to happen.

Stay tuned...

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