(Credit: Getty) The NHL has confirmed the rumor that they did indeed present the Players Association with a new proposal late Thursday afternoon

No need to pinch yourself hockey fans, you are not stuck in some crazy horrifying nightmare that consistently repeats itself every few weeks. What you are feeling, is a sense of déjà vu as you are left asking yourself, haven’t I been here before?

To answer your question, yes, we’ve all been here before. We’ve all dug deep into our closets to pull out or favorite players’ jerseys in anticipation of a season finally getting underway, only to be kicked in the gut by the National Hockey League or its Players Association as they once again diminish our hopes of seeing the sport we all know and love back on the ice.

Since the league officially locked out the players on September 15 each new proposal has brought optimism which ultimately led to heartbreak and disappointment. The roller coaster ride that has been the CBA negotiations has been one roller coaster ride that none of us as hockey fans chose to wait in line for, it was simply shoved in our face.

Word quickly spread and then later was confirmed by multiple outlets,—stick tap to Hockeybuzz’s Eklund for breaking this one. Guy takes a ton of heat for his rumors, but he had today’s news pegged before anyone else— followed by a statement from NHL Deputy Commissioner Billy Daily.

“In light of media reports this morning, I can confirm that we delivered to the Union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA late yesterday afternoon. We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the Union’s staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible.”

So here we go again, that weird but yet familiar feeling you suddenly feel is optimism taking over once again. To those fans who say you’re done with hockey, or you’re not optimistic in the least bit, please stop lying to yourself. You’ll be back right when we are all back and right when the NHL is back.

Are we optimistic that a deal will get done? Hell yes we are, but we’ve been here before, we know what to expect in the coming days, and you bet that we are prepared for it.

The players are not going to accept the current offer from the league, we know this. Rumors are coming out from many outlets that the players are already working a counter-proposal, and honestly they should.

A deal won’t get done this week, sorry folks, not going to happen. But I can tell you that if the end is in sight, then today is the beginning of the end.

With games cancelled through January 14, and many believing that a deal must be struck by January 15 in order to save the season it was just a matter of when, not if, a new offer would be presented.

We’ve seen the two sides strike out numerous times when they’ve met to “negotiate” we know how that scene plays out, and we are ready for it to happen again. As fans we don’t care what happens, as long as a season is saved.

I’ve been optimistic since day 1 of this way-to-long lockout and I remain optimistic as I sit here today and type this for you.

If there is one piece of advice I can give to you it’s this. As great, or as bad as it sounds, don’t buy into what peoples ‘sources” say it’s just going to toy with your emotions and mislead you into believing something that is most likely not going to happen.

I understand that it was Eklund’s sources that helped cracked the story, but how many other reports have source’s leaked that have been completely false, insert Steve Burton joke here.

In the world of social media I understand the difficulty that is avoiding rumors, sources and predictions, but for your own sanity it’s the least you can do to keep yourself from going any more crazier then you already have, remember folks, we’ve all been here before.