I’m not amused, I was gearing up for some hockey. It’s not like we couldn’t see it coming though. Guess I’ll try streaming CHL and KHL games.
I’m laying this more on the owners this time around. But, obviously both sides are at fault to some extent when it comes to not getting on the ice. Bettman doesn’t bother me, but I’d like to see a little more mediation from him rather than just acting as a hardline figurehead for the owners. I’d really like to see some good come out of this. I don’t care if the players get “stuck” with 47% I thought 43 was a little low but even that with enough give would’ve been fine. I’d really like to see them keep the hard cap, raise the floor, and improve revenue sharing to weaker markets. Incentives for teams to keep players and likewise for players to stick with their teams, for maximum salary reduction to 15%, incentivized extensions beginning in the next to last year of a contract (or the last year for one year deals) would be nice. Things like expanded canadian and northern US teams, more outdoor games, floating everything against revenue, “lifetime” contracts, performance bonuses and penalties, and an overall structure that allows the CBA to adjust as needed without breaking over the next 25 years would be great (I think they’d garner a lot of goodwill with 12–20 years of guaranteed labor peace) but probably waaaaay out of line with what they’re thinking.