NHL lockout near an end?

All signs are pointing to the 80-day NHL lockout soon coming to an end.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters today that he is “pleased” with how the latest round of labor talks are progressing in New York.

Social media was buzzing about the forward movement today, with NHL scout Thomas Roost offering this Twitter post:

#NHL #lockout players in Europe get text messages from their NHL-headcoaches to get ready to return. Deal is on the horizon, yesssssss!

— Thomas Roost (@thomasroost) December 5, 2012

A few minues later, however, Roost tempered his optimism a bit, Tweeting that nothing was nailed down just yet:

Clarify: I don’t know nothing for sure + there is no deal yet + still a lot of work to do but there are growing v. positive indications

— Thomas Roost (@thomasroost) December 5, 2012