I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but there's trouble on the horizon.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AkWblpi58__N3xKTcvLLyhk5nYcB?slug=nc-cotsonika-nhlpa_boss_don_fehr_on_cba_091511

This quote from Donal Fehr scares me:



If his goal is to make hockey look like baseball, then we're in for some trouble. Sure, baseball might be great from a stability perspective, but who wants a league with 30 teams and only 6 or so that can really compete? Maybe fans in Detroit, Chicago, NY, Philly, Boston, and perhaps Toronto would like something like that. But what about the smaller market teams or teams without owners with deep pockets? And what about the new Winnpeg team? That would suck for them to get a team back for a year only to see the system change and that team have to pack up and leave again. I see the complete removal of the salary cap as very unlikely, but would an extreme widening (lowering the floor significantly to satisfy the weak teams and raising the ceiling a bunch to satisfy Detroit and other strong teams) result in essentially the same thing as the elimination of the cap?

If the salary cap goes away (or a new system with a weak salary cap comes along), it's only a matter of time before the Pens lose Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Staal, etc. to deeper pockets and again run the risk of moving elsewhere.

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- Dman 29

How in the hell do they figure that baseball has the most stability? Hell, there's people that have been calling for the MLB to contract some teams because they simply can't compete without a cap (anyone ever hear of the Pirates?).

Baseball has a much larger revenue stream and even they can't support all of their teams properly. How in the hell is the NHL, with a fraction of the revenue as the MLB, supposed to adopt the same model and hope to keep teams afloat?

Eliminating the cap in the NHL would be suicide.

All that said, this reeks of early posturing. I'm sure both sides have seen how badly the NFL and NBA mismanaged their situations by waiting until the 11th hour to kick off the war, and are just getting a head start on things.

Start early with the most extreme demands possible and you'll concede less on the real issues later down the road.

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They figure baseball is the most stable because it hasn't had a strike or lockout since 94 while the other 3 sports have. But that is just because baseball owners are collectively a weak lot that cave instead of making a real stand to fix the economic climate of their sport for the long term.

I guess maybe this might be some early posturing, but the article mentions that they don't plan on sitting down until after the All-star break in January so I don't anticipate them getting too much of a head start or learning much of anything from the NFL or NBA. It took Sid to save the Pens after the last lockout, even with the salary structure changes - we were ready to become the Moncton Penguins at one point, though I'll admit that I don't recall if that fell through once we got Sid or as a result of the NHL refusing to consider relocating the team.

If there's another lockout and associated significant salary structure changes, I can't see us striking gold 3 times in my lifetime (Lemieux being the first). We could be doomed.

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- Dman 29

I have to believe it won't happen. And that there will continue to be a cap. The NFL lockout was nasty and only because of the league's popularity (due in large part to the spineless, lemming-like fanbase that gleefully laps up whatever the NFL throws at them) did it not suffer significantly. The NBA lockout will likely be much worse. The NHL is no position to put itself into a lockout/strike strategy. The league has no leverage at all IMO. They are subsidizing the Coyotes. The other non-traditional markets are losing teams and/or losing massive amounts of cash. They are simply in no position to sacrifice a single dollar of revenue. While they've made alot of in-roads since the last stoppage with regard to overall fan interest and TV ratings, they are nowhere near out of the woods. The loss of the salary cap would place an even heavier burden on the struggling franchises that already have one foot out of town. I know Winnipeg doesn't want the Cap to go away.

And on the players side I don't see any leverage other than the above mentioned tight spot the owners would be in. The NHLPA would have to know how much damage to the league they would be doing by striking for a removal of the cap. Another NHL work stoppage would be devastating for all involved. I would be very disappointed if the players let this creep steer them toward striking.