After weeks – really months of very little positive news on the CBA front, the vibes have suddenly got a whole lot better the last two days as far as our chances of seeing NHL hockey again for Christmas.  The first hint of a breakthrough came Monday from an unlikely source, WBZ’s Steve Burton, a Boston reporter who first tweeted then went on TV saying NHL talks ‘have made great progress behind closed doors, and a deal to save the NHL season could be announced tomorrow (meaning Tuesday) or Wednesday’.  If you’ve never heard of Steve Burton before this, that makes two of us…but the guy has been a long-time Boston reporter.  Though he’s more keyed into the Patriots NFL team, he does have Bruin contacts as well, and it was he who actually broke the stories of Phil Kessel having cancer, and of Tim Thomas taking a sabbatical.

Although the report was denied by Bill Daly and others, it was intriguing nonetheless…especially with it coming out of Boston considering the role owner Jeremy Jacobs has had in this lockout until now.  Yesterday’s player-owner pow-wow was supposed to be a discussion but apparently the talks got more in-depth than was originally anticipated and the sides met for several hours last night.  Along with the fact that whatever negotiations have been discussed weren’t leaked (as was the case at other times during this process) the most encouraging thing about last night was that Daly and Steve Fehr met the media together after midnight when talks finally broke off.  Both sides – which included six owners, eighteen players, Daly and S. Fehr – were scheduled to meet once again early this morning in advance of the Board of Governors meeting this afternoon, with commissioner Gary Bettman scheduled to give his annual pre-BOG meeting press conference at 1 PM.

I admit it, I’m getting hopeful of a surprise announcement that the season is saved, if not at Bettman’s scheduled press conference today than soon thereafter.  Reports of Penguin owner Ron Burkle (previously not a player in the negotiations) having an impact lend credence to the hope that the gap has been bridged, at least to a large extent.  Really, if you put a linked 50-50 on the table and take contract limits off it, the sides were never that far apart financially, it’s only been stupid pride and arrogance that’s kept everyone at arm’s length.

However, the upcoming BOG meeting combined with the increasing number of missed games has caused the biggest pressure point to date.  Especially with reports of the NHL having to refund sponsors’ money if there isn’t at least 3/4 of an 82-game season (62 games, according to former NHL executive Doug MacLean).  Not to mention I’m sure the league would like to get its season started ASAP so that holiday shopping for NHL items doesn’t plummet.  And the players all along believed the best deal would come in December, maybe that’s come to pass.  Certainly the pressure mounts on them, too…as hundreds of games have been canceled to this point – checks the players are never getting back.

It’s been an overused saying that ‘this week is critical to CBA negotiations’ but I think what happens in the next couple of days will be absolutely vital to getting a season underway.  Especially since if this pressure point goes by the boards there’ll be little incentive financially for the owners to offer close to the same deal next month that the players can negotiate now.  Not to mention decertification would be back on the table from the players’ perspective.  As fans we can have two choices – expect the worst or hope for the best.  I choose the latter…after all, if things fall apart again there’ll be plenty of time to scream and be bitter at both sides.  Having hope is always better than not having it, though.  Right now there’s hope…the hope that NHL fans can have a hockey Christmas after all.