I have been doing further digging on what is next for the AHL. Here are a few themes that have emerged:

--The NHL is the NHL. The AHL is the AHL. Their fortunes and fates are hitched to each other, but they are also separate entities.

#AHL

--There is in fact an outline to play in February. But that is obviously pending several factors well beyond the AHL's control.

--Don't believe everything you see put out there. Remember that people only leak what they want to leak because it serves their purposes.

#AHL

--The AHL is hockey's equivalent to baseball's Triple-A. One step from the top of the hockey world. It's not Slap Shot. It's not small-time. These are franchises and buildings worth millions in a league that has been in business since 1936.

#AHL

One of the biggest tasks that Dave Andrews had back in the 90s was modernizing the league's business model as well as the nuts-and-bolts details.

All of this is to say that these are business people running these teams, and there are millions of dollars at stake.

#AHL

(I think that sometimes this is lost on people because for a lot of them the AHL is just a far-off place in the transactions section.)