I was trying to put the NHL lockout out of my mind, ignore it, pretend it isn’t happening, and that it’s just not hockey season yet.  It’s not working.  Especially after reading DevHawk's post today.

Just like DevHawk, I agree with the owners largely on this issue.  I just can’t see hockey surviving without a salary cap.  We have to be honest with ourselves hockey fans…our sport just doesn’t have the draw of football, basketball, or baseball.  It’s a niche market.  Hockey is hard to watch on TV if you aren’t *really* into it.  There’s so much to the game that you just can’t get on the screen.  Going to a live game, being with the crowd, watching guys skate back on defense, seeing line changes, seeing all the “behind the play” stuff that you don’t get on TV because the camera follows the puck…it’s difficult to get the full effect unless you really know what you are watching for.

For this reason, players can’t expect to be paid the same kinds of salaries that guys in the big 3 sports get.  It just won’t happen.  Now I’ve never been a big fan of guys whining over a few extra million (I’m talking to you Pedro) when they’re already rich as hell playing a game.  I will say that the players deserve a big cut because people come to see them play, not to see the owners.  But it has to be in line with team and league revenues, and in hockey, those numbers aren’t playing on the same ice as in the other 3 sports.  It’s just reality.  So I say, if you really want to play hockey, suck it up and take the cap.  Who does it really hurt if, in the long run, it keeps the team and the league solvent, keeps ticket prices down, and keeps you playing?

Ticket prices need to be able to come down.  When I was up in Boston a couple years ago, it was hard to justify catching a B’s game at the Fleet because it was gonna be an easy $150 just for upper loge.  And I had a good paying job.  But in places like Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, and Philly, real hockey towns, a lot of the fans are the blue-collar guys who just can’t shell out that kind of money for a game, let alone be able to take the family to a game.  I mean, honestly, I can get Sox tickets against a rival for cheaper than I can go see Bruins/Panthers.  There’s something wrong with that.  If salaries are capped and come down a little, and ticket prices still stay up, then the owners will be to blame…but right now, I’m placing the blame on the players with other-sport-salary envy.  I mean, just look at the numbers…league veteran minimum, at least as of a couple of years ago, was something like $450K.  And PJ Stock, whom I love, but who scored one goal that year and had more time in the bin than on the ice, made almost half a million a year.  If you’re a player…I don’t see how you can complain about these numbers.  And while I don’t know the numbers for Jumbo Joe Thornton’s contract in Sweden, I’m sure it’s less than the 6mil or so a year he was getting in Boston.

Players need to step back and look what is really important here.  The sport is going to die in America if this keeps up.  It will be okay in places like Original Six cities, or in say Tampa where recent success has brought popularity up…but what about Phoenix, Tennessee, California, and other places where the other sports are bigger in the first place, and where hockey was already largely an afterthought…something to do with the arena when the basketball team was out of town?

And Bob Goodenow needs to catch a cross-check to the chest, if you ask me.

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