The NHL and the NHLPA have ceased communications since a last minute chance to make a CBA work collapsed last Thursday. At the moment, neither party has made any moves towards reconciling or even meeting again. Time is running out before the league will have no alternative to chop off another block of regular season games, or perhaps wiping the season out all together. Things are looking bad on both sides of the border.
How bad is it getting? In Toronto, people are talking about the magic that is forming in the bull pen of the Toronto Blue Jays. That’s right. In Canada, they’re talking about baseball. One week before Christmas and the big word on the street is about everything BUT hockey. Who would have thought? Christmas is supposed to be the time for miracles, not disasters.
“We will continue to explore options for moving the process forward,” offered up Bill Daly, the NHL’s #2, and the closest thing the players had as an ally. “and we hope the Players’ Association is doing the same. Time is obviously getting short.” Indeed it is. At the moment, the league has lost five hundred and twenty eight games so far. The Winter Classic has been scrapped, as well as the All-Star Weekend. It is reaching the point where they might as well just cancel the season.
Is it a fair question to ask the parties if the plan was to kill the season all along? I know I lost out on two games worth of tickets. My ‘Bruins brother’ lost a whole block of tickets. As a fan, I’m frustrated that I miss out on the games. I know the players are ticked off since a lot of them aren’t getting the chance to play. The owners, who knows? Was this their plan from day one?