Adam Oates returning to DC
Washington Capitals new head coach Adam Oates has been coaching alongside Hershey head coach Mark French at the Caps affiliate Hershey Bears since the lockout. According to Caps PR man, Mike Vogel, Adam Oates and the rest of the Caps staff are leaving Hershey and returning to Washington.
Is this a sign that the NHL Lockout may be nearing an end?
Who knows. The Washington Post and other hockey media are reporting that talks have broken off again.
NHL labor talks broke off soon after they resumed Wednesday, with players maintaining their new proposal was a huge economic concession and Commissioner Gary Bettman pretty much saying the only deal he will agree to is the one management proposed last month.
On the 67th day of a lockout that already has wiped out more than a quarter of the regular season, the sides headed home for Thanksgiving with no end in sight to the sport’s fourth work stoppage. The union’s negotiating committee planned to brief players and get back in touch with management on Friday.
Yet, the return of the Caps coaching staff to DC is an abrupt move after the NHLPA made a new proposal.
The information in Vogel's article makes it seem it is just an organizational move and that Oates and staff have spent enough time working with the Caps affiliate.
So, don't get too excited.
