NHL LOCKOUT: Day 99 – Too late for a Christmas miracle?

April 21, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; A general view as the ice is lit up before the start of game five of the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinals between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Tomorrow will be the one hundreth day of the NHL lockout. The NHLPA recently vote 705-22 in favor of decertifying the union. (That’s ninety-seven percent of the constituency.)At the moment, the players have fueled the missiles, aimed them at their targets, pulled the safeties and have done everything but launch. So, why haven’t they? They still want to play. There are letting the owners know that they still want to make a deal, and they want to come back to the tables.

So, owners, what are you going to do? You wanted Fehr out of the process, and the players are even willing to do this to make a deal happen. (Problem is if they actually formally decertify, we wont see NHL hockey in the 2013 0r maybe even the 2014 season.) Owners, if you’ve got some Christmas miracle up your sleeve for the fan base, then I really hope you use it. There are owners out there who are just as desperate for a deal as their players. I just find it hard to believe that they’re willing to destroy the league so that a third of the owners make money. The players have made it clear that want a deal, even if they’re willing to push the ‘disclaimer of interest’.

The ‘disclaimer of interest’ is the final trigger here. It’s essentially the quickest and most painless way for the NHLPA to decertify. The NHLPA will cease to formally exist, and it is most likely that the players union’ will become some form of trade guild or association. This NHLPA(2.0) will still attempt to negotiate with the union. I seriously doubt that the owners will want to deal with the NHLPA(2.0). Then the only thing we can hope to see is no NHL hockey and a protracted battle in courts in both the US and Canada. I’m just hoping, along with a lot of you that both sides have some plan to at least save the league, if not the season.