On Wednesday, Lou Lamoriello offered a solution to end the work stoppage.
“Maybe we should do like they do with juries,” the Devils GM told the New York Post. “Lock them in a room until they reach a verdict.”
Lamoriello’s comments reflect the bleak outlook for a full 82-game regular season. At this point, locking the two parties in a room (and possibly throwing away the key) might be the only way to kickstart negotiations.
With the deadline looming, neither side seems to want to make the first move -- and Lamoriello acknowledged the optics are bad.
“There is nothing that looks good until there is a deal,” he told the the Star-Ledger. “It doesn’t look good because we don’t have anything concrete right now. We don’t hear anything.”
One interesting wrinkle: Lamoriello clammed up when the subject of last weekend’s 48-hour window for GMs to speak with players was raised.
The NHL allowed the window to be opened so questions could be answered about the league’s 50-50 revenue sharing proposal, but Lamoriello refused to say if he met with any Devils.
“Don’t even go there,” he repeated several times.