Cooler heads...

Sunday, 11 November 2012 12:22

Written by Shelly Anderson

There was a lot of vitriol and posturing Friday, but it seems as if the importance of continuing negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement has outweighed any hard feelings. The NHL and the NHLPA apparently are going to resume formal talks at some point today.

That, of course, is the good news. The unknown news is whether the talks will produce any progress.

If there is an agreement at some point that salvages at least some of the season, it's highly possible that in hindsight NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and Steve Fehr, special counsel for the union, will be looked upon as peacemakers of sorts who worked to keep the lines of communication open and helped facilitate talks starring after breaks and continuing. Those two have been the liaisons, and at this point seem like pretty important figures in all of this even if they don't get the notoriety that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr get.