Somewhere out there...

With barely a day to go before the NHL goes dark for the second time in eight years, the situation looks bleak for a settlement and a new collective bargaining agreement.  Actually, it looks like this...

It could be the NHL; it could be the NHLPA.  Whether it is one or the other, their counterpart -- the other side of the span -- is out there, a great distance separating them and a great gulf between them.

And there is no bridging the differences in sight.