If the NHL started playing again tomorrow would anybody care? The NHL has now officially canceled over half of the season’s 1230 games. They players and the owners still aren't at the bargaining tables. The hockey teams are reducing the work weeks of their office staff to 3 days and most likely after next week there will be more layoffs. Some teams are even looking at finding part time work for their employees so that they can help them through these hard times.
You won't see this in the newspapers or mass media, but the word circulating in hockey circles is that a lot of the players are broke. That’s right - broke. Don't get me wrong, I'm not crying for the players since even the lowest paid players in the league are making roughly 8 times my salary as a Mechanical Engineer. It doesn't take much financial skill to save 10% or more of your pay when you make over half a million dollars for playing a game. What I find amazing though is that these players, the majority of the players in the NHLPA, are still supporting the strike. These are the same players that many hockey fans complain about during the hockey season. The players that have their jobs because of the league expansions over the last 10 years resulted in diluting the talent pool in order to get enough bodies in uniform. Many of these players are willing to play in other leagues at the moment for less than their NHL salaries yet they aren't willing to play in the NHL because the owners want to limit the amount of money that player's make and level out the playing field for all of teams in the league. There really is no logic to it at all. The highest paid players are the ones that are keeping the strike going for their own benefit and greed and the rest are following behind like good little puppies.
I really hate to see the season canceled but at this point it would be stupid to even consider playing this year. There isn't enough time left in the season to make it worthwhile. Hockey is a game that is steeped in tradition. This will be the first time in almost 100 years that the Stanley Cup, professional sports oldest and most recognizable (and arguably revered) trophy, has not been awarded. I grew up loving hockey and fondly remember playing pick-up games on frozen ponds and ice rinks in the Detroit metro area. I saw my first professional hockey game at Olympia in the '60s as a young child (back when the Red Wings were pretty much known as the Dead Things around the league). My love of the game has never abated so it is very hard to watch this season being wasted.
I support the owners in locking out the players. Even though the owners created the problem in the first place by offering outlandish salaries they've at least come to realize that it just isn't sustainable for a fourth tier sport to continue with the reckless spending of the past. There are and never will be the large TV contracts that sports such as football (American - not what we in the US call Soccer), basketball and even baseball command. A significant portion of the revenue in the NHL comes from the fans and there aren't enough of us to pay the prices necessary since the cost of seeing even a couple of games in person is out of reach for many people.
So how about it NHL owners are you ready to take the next step? Declare the season dead now. Declare that there will be hockey next year with or without the player's union involved. Commit to the fans that prices for games will drop to a level that can be justified for a sport that will never be as popular as baseball, basketball or football (any flavor). Break the union but treat the players right. Make sure that we can enjoy our 30 teams and above all make sure that this never, ever happens again.
The fans deserve it.