Lockout Knockout

For any NHL hockey fan, the last three weeks have been a nightmare. And I truly mean an absolute nightmare. The minute the clock struck midnight on September 15th, without a deal between the NHL and NHLPA being reached, it all became real. Fans who could remember 2004 worried that they were watching the same, awful movie all over again, and hopes faded quicker than the "Von Dutch" hat phase. Newer, non-cynical fans of the game wondered how this could all be possible. How could the NHL experience their most viewed playoffs ever (EVER), and still not be able to overcome their differences in order to avoid a lockout? How can they not realize that this will be a massive blow to the continued growth and previously budding health of the league (which, by the way, already clearly comes in as the least popular of the four major sports in America). These fans couldn't be more correct. It is completely mind-boggling, and unbelievably frustrating that these two sides can't find some common ground. Hell, they can't even stop the pissing match that continues on almost every day through the media. Commissioner Gary Bettman is currently involved in his FOURTH work stoppage in 20 years(!), and second in 7 years, and has taken (deservedly so) an immense amount of criticism from fans and hockey writers. With no end to these arguments in sight, and little no real willingness to negotiate shown by either side, the outlook only continues to get bleaker, and the future of the league remains in limbo.

The general issues at hand are tough for the average fan to fully understand. Essentially, arguments are revolving around three major sticking points: 1) the split of Hockey Related Revenue (HRR), 2) the revenue sharing between big and small market teams and 3) the owners irrational (in this writers humble opinion) demands for immediate salary rollbacks for players. Currently the players receive 57% of HRR, and the NHL wants to reduce this number significantly. However, it's painfully obvious that they are heading directly towards, and will likely eventually agree on, a 50/50 split. One can only hope that both sides realize this sooner rather than later, so we can get back to playing hockey. The 2nd issue is fairly simple: owners of smaller teams want the wealth to be spread around more evenly by the big teams (Rangers, Leafs, Bruins, Habs, etc...). This is fully understandable and should hopefully be negotiated with less of a headache than the other issues. Finally, the last major issue: immediate salary rollbacks. This is where the owners come off as the "villains" of this lockout (a large majority of fans are siding with the players, in large part due to this). To explain simply, the owners want to take a certain percentage away from each players salary. Essentially, owners are saying: "Hey players, we know that WE approved the deal that was offered to, and signed by you, but we decided that we don't want to pay it all, so give some back!" This is something that the NHLPA simply will not budge on, and seems to be the number one obstacle that needs to be overcome to make a deal. In my humble, unbiased opinion, this is one of the most asinine, ridiculous, and frankly moronic ideas that I have ever heard. The fact that the owners and commissioner Bettman not only thought that this could actually work, but that it is in any way fair or an even marginally good idea is completely, 110% irrational and just plain stupid (NOTE: told you, unbiased!).

For hockey fans, it is impossible to scroll through ones twitter timeline each day and not see news about the lockout. The bad part about this is that its usually horrible, depressing news. For the still somewhat optimistic suckers (like me), its even worse. Each and every time some encouraging news comes out, such as the two sides meeting, a possible proposal being tendered, or anything else that offers any inkling of hope, it is promptly bashed to pieces by the news that it was unsubstantial. The number of meetings that have occurred and yielded no progress, meetings where only non-core issues end up being discussed (like the ones that took place for three days this past weekend), and proposals tendered then promptly ripped to shreds by the opposing group (see: Bill Daly, Donald Fher post meeting media sessions) is simply sickening. Todays shred of hope comes with reports of the possibility of proposals from both sides that would be made next week. That news was then followed up by the news that the two sides have no talks planned for the remainder of this week, or the weekend. It becomes more and more disheartening and depressing with each passing day, and as games begin to be cancelled (the NHL cancelled all games until Oct. 24th, 82 in total) it gets even worse. Fans are left hoping that, just once, one of these rays of hope yields some type of substantial movement towards a deal. For all fans of the league, and of hockey itself, there is one shared wish and prayer: to wake up from this nightmare.