NHL Lockout

This week the NHL lockout is expected to begin. My feelings...yay! You know, I love hockey and all but I'm kinda glad this lockout is going to happen. Here's why. In the last few years the players' salaries have skyrocketed faster than in any other sport. In fact, NHL players enjoy the best revenue sharing out of all pro sports in the U.S. The average salary has tripled in the last few years from 500,00 to 1.5 million. According to an independent study, NHL teams lost nearly 250 million last year. Of that, only something like 11 teams made money.

So the big issue at hand seems to be the salary cap. The owners want it, the players don't.

IMHO not having salary caps in pro sports is a bad thing. Take a look at the NBA and the NFL, both of which have salary caps. Thanks to the cap, the overall competitivness in these two sports is at an all-time high. During the last decade, 3 teams have dominated winning the Stanley Cup: Detroit, New Jersey, and Colorodo. Why? They're big spenders. They go after the big free agents or trade for top players before the trading deadline. Money is no object, winning the Cup is all that matters.

My team, the Chicago Blackhawks, haven't won a cup since 1961, the current longest streak in the NHL. And my guess is they never will. The owner is about the biggest tight wad you'll ever see and he just refuses to lose money by spending more than they take in. If there was a salary cap in place, teams like Chicago might have a chance in the future.

So let them go on strike. Hell, let them go on strike for a year. Dissolve the NHL and form a new league with a salary cap. Soon enough those mediorce 10 goal scoring multi-millionaires will fold.