It has become the forgotten league; the league that no longer even garners attention on the back pages of newspapers' sports sections. Kids can now skate on the FleetCenter ice like it's their local pond. For their parents, it would have been a dream to skate on the sacred ice of the old Boston Garden.
Now, the ice is home to players (if they ever return) that most people cannot even name. Bobby Orr and even Wayne Gretsky seem like players from a dinosaur era. Many people are not even aware of what is happening with the NHL.
"I didn't even realize there was a lockout until Thanksgiving," Tufts freshman Chris Apolzon said.
As of yesterday, the lockout has caused the cancellation of 807 of the 1230 hockey games, as well as this weekend's All-Star game. Yesterday, ESPN reported that a source close to the negotiations says that if the owners and union do not come to an agreement this weekend, the season will be cancelled. Commissioner Gary Bettmann delivered a news briefing last night that missed press time. No major North American sports league has ever lost an entire season due to a labor dispute.
The fight between players and owners revolves around the issue of cost control. Owners want a salary cap, like the National Football League, so their costs cannot exceed a certain threshold. The NHL Players Union despises the very premise of such an idea.
The new report of this weekend as a final deadline for the lockout is by no means a sure thing, as the entire negotiations process has been marked by uncertainty.
"On the same day, American media, Canadian media, and owners have reported three different things about the lockout. No one really knows what is going on or not going on," said Barbara Matson, a Boston Globe sports reporter who has followed and written about the NHL lockout extensively.
Player salaries have more than doubled in recent years, causing many NHL franchises to be in the red year after year. NHL ticket prices have gone through the roof. With an estimated cost of attending an NHL game at $275 per family, you could fly across the country before seeing one game. With the scarcity of fans in recent seasons, sitting at an NHL hockey game had become like sleeping in a king-sized bed - you could stretch your arms and legs as wide as you wanted.
Matson places the blame on the owners and has little sympathy for them.
"You are simply talking about millionaires fighting billionaires," she said, referring to National Hockey League owners.
She believes their shortsightedness when negotiating the last collective bargaining agreement, created in 1995, is one of the primary reasons for the current lockout. The owners did not think about long-term issues.
"How can you expect 22-year-old players to account for issues such as inflation? It is the owners' responsibility," Matson said.
Many NHL players are steadfast in their determination. A great amount of distrust exists between the players and owners, and it is the high-priced players who remain the most resolute. Players are now skating in Europe, since they fear losing their roster spots to minor leaguers who have been playing throughout the NHL lockout.
If a collective bargaining agreement is agreed upon before the season is canceled, many teams, such as the Bruins, will have a difficult time filling their rosters. Currently, the hometown team has only 11 players under contract.
"Owners expected the lock-out, and therefore they made the necessary preparations," Matson said.
"I think Jacobs' behavior speaks for itself," Matson said, when asked about Boston Bruins owner Jacobs' role in leading the group of owners fighting for a salary cap.
All this begs the million-dollar question - if the NHL season is canceled, or by some miracle an abbreviated season occurs, what will the attendance figures look like when the league is revived? Well, they can't go much lower. It has often taken professional sports years to regain their fan bases after either a lockout or strike.
After the 1994 Major League Baseball (MLB) strike, which caused the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in MLB history, it took an exciting homerun race four years later between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire before baseball gained back much of its lost popularity.
Some fan bases, however, were less forgiving. Toronto, Kansas City, and Minneapolis all were considered prominent baseball cities before the strike, but now they are places in which game day tickets are readily available at low prices.
Hockey's most recent work stoppage occurred in 1995 with a lockout that lasted 103 days.
Matson argues that the lockout will increase the difference between the haves and have-nots, as was the case in baseball after the 1994 work stoppage. Since the 1994 MLB strike, it has been much more difficult for small market teams to compete year-in and year-out. The same is true in hockey. Small market franchises simply do not have the large television contracts to offset the increasing cost of player salaries and dwindling attendance.
"Big market teams such as the Rangers can dole out large sums of money that other teams simply cannot," Matson noted.
Ironically, it is often fans of small market teams who become the most disillusioned after a work stoppage. How many Montreal Expos fans returned after the 1994 Major League Baseball Strike?
For those who think that the final collective bargaining agreement will ultimately result in cheaper tickers, allowing the average fan to attend games as opposed to only the companies who purchase them for the purpose of tax write-offs, Matson has a simple question for you - "what are you smoking?"
