19bruins19 said:
It seems the majority of the board is too impatient. This deal is very close to being finished, it's going to be finished when the NHL and NHLPA are done with it, not when a bunch of fans want it completed.
Too many people are media-crazy at this point. Can't really blame anyone for that (hell, I'm at least somewhat guilty of it myself). But you really have to look at the situation for what it is.
Two sides that still don't particularly like each other are writing out a 600 page legal agreement as they go along. If you ask a lawyer who has dealt with this type of situation before, he'll pretty much tell you this is not a recipe for speediness. A couple lawyers who post here have said as much. To try and put a timetable on this is total guess work; only a few dozen ways the process could be slowed down (and that might be a conservative estimate).
Most of the media who cares about hockey want to be the first ones to break the story and/or the first ones to say they were right. So they throw us fans a bone; a source tells them the talks are going well and only a few items remain, we hear the deal should be done in a day or two. A source says only the language remains, the deal should be done in a day or two. Realistically, its never that simple but I suspect at least some of them know that. They'll put it out there because they know people like us will gobble it up. Only a handful in the media have thought it through enough and/or are erring on the side of caution in their reporting.
I've been pretty optimistic for the last two weeks or so, and in my mind there hasn't been anything to quell that optimism. I know this is a difficult and time consuming process, so I keep my patience about it. I want this clusterf**k to end as much as anyone here. But given what the situation currently is, believing the media's timetable seems like a sure way to set yourself up for disappointment every day.
Take the dog for a walk, take the Mrs. out to dinner, see a movie, have a drink, relax; this agreement will happen.