NHL Rumors: Good Sign That Sidney Crosby Has Delayed Signing To Play In Europe During NHL Lockout?

The NHL Lockout continues, although both sides have at least committed to engaging in more talks than they have before. The NHL owners and players have met for the past couple of days and have spent around six hours negotiating at each bargaining session as they hope to move toward a new collective bargaining agreement. Thursday will mark the third consecutive days of meetings and, without getting too optimistic, is there one player who we should watch as a sign of good things possibly to come?

If there is, that one player would be Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

While many other elite players across the NHL have already signed to play in Switzerland or Russia or somewhere else, Crosby has said that he will only do so if the entire 2012-2013 NHL season is cancelled. The league did take a giant step toward that last week when they cancelled the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day, but all hope is not lost.

If it was, one would think that Crosby would be close to inking a deal to sign to play overseas. To my knowledge, no such deal is even on the horizon as of this minute.

Could that be because he remains quite hopeful that these latest talks will finally lead to a resolution?

It is still too early to get our hopes up all that much. After all, both sides have been meeting for a couple of months now with absolutely no positive results. They have failed to reach an agreement, and e should not view these current and most recent negotiations as anything more than dialogue.

Still, it is not a bad thing that Crosby still has not signed to play hockey elsewhere this season. It is an even better sign that he continues to be one of the players who represents the NHLPA at many of the meetings.

Fingers crossed, folks. Fingers crossed.

Tags: NHL Lockout, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby