why would the owners lockout now? Plus they can't for the 10 duration of the CBA. By then they will have collected 4+ billion from this tv deal alone.
Only the Columbus blue jackets can help themselves now. Start winning then more people show up. Make the playoffs then you can collect the 1- million per home game. The more you win the better your chances of making money and signing better players. The onus is on these smaller clubs to get better. Why is this team still in this suck mode after all this time? Changed the coach gm the core players even a different goalie. Hell even changed conferences to the worst division.
Reading comprehension is a great thing. I said the potential for a lockout would be after this CBA expires. Why would they lock the players out? Easy, deals like this make hockey related revenue increase, which means the players get more and the cap goes up. Whose going to complain the most that they're not making money? Say it with me...The Owners. Hence, a reason for locking the players out. If contract demands go higher over the next several years, and some owners are dumb enough to them, the owners will only have themselves to blame for the situation. The league seems to be caught in a vicious cycle.
Also, I said that we'll continue to flounder until our player development is up to snuff, kind of implies the onus is on the club. It's why we've sucked for so long, however it looks like we've turned the corner, we have a lot of good talent on the roster. As bad as we've played this year, we're I believe only three points out of a playoff spot. We'll contend in this division. We're beat up right now, but once healthy, this club will be more than competitive and might be able to string together another run in the second half.