NHL executive director of the NHLPA, Donald Fehr, speaks with the media on the NHL lockout talks while surrounded by NHLers. (CRAIG ROBERTSON, QMI Agency)
The NHL and NHL Players' Association will sit down separately Wednesday with a federal mediator to give their side of the story.
Unless NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr are willing to check their egos at the door, nobody is confident the U.S. Federal Mediation and Concillation Service will find a solution to the lockout.
Though the FMCS claims a strong success rate, it's hard to find anybody who believes they'll actually be able to coerce the NHL and union to get a collective bargaining agreement in place with a non-binding process.
Nobody should expect any miracles from the Washington-based FMCS when they meet with the NHL and NHLPA at an undisclosed location. The best you can hope for: They'll suggest ways to end the lockout.
