The NHL lockout drags on. What are players doing who haven’t signed on to play overseas or in a lower league here in North America? Learning new poker tips or practicing there golf swing for next year? Perhaps some have taken up curling. Whatever it is I hope they don’t have to do it for long and we get the NHL back before it is too late.
There really isn’t much to talk about in regards to the NHL lockout this week. The two sides were meeting often, but then discussions seemed to hit a wall and Gary Bettman suggested to Donald Fehr that the two sides take two weeks off before returning to the negotiation table. The sides did take a little break, but luckily it wasn’t a full two weeks with the NHL and NHLPA resuming negotiations today.
The players haven’t been shy when talking about their displeasure with Gary Bettman and Bill Daly. Versteeg called the two ‘cancers’ to the game of hockey and Ian White recently called Gary Bettman an ‘idiot’. All name calling aside we know exactly how the NHLPA feels towards the commissioner and his right hand man at this point in the negotiations.
Bold Prediction
Here goes my bold prediction. I’ve been following the discussions quite a bit and every time there seems to be progress made the sides hit a wall and it seems like the season will be lost forever. This seems to be just part of the process. I think the owners and players desperately want to save the season and I expect this to happen within the next few weeks (simply because it has to). The NBA lockout was resolved at the end of November last year and I expect both sides in this lockout are looking at the NBA’s lockout as a bit of a timeline. Therefore both sides likely think they will get the best offer near the end of this month. However, I expect both to try to out wait each other a little bit, which will bring the lockout into the early part of December.
Therefore my bold prediction is that a new CBA will be signed by mid December. Let’s say the 18th. The NHL will not take as long as the NBA did to get the players back into meaningful games and I expect the NHL season to begin on the first of January. It will be a shortened and condensed season with only 59 games (6 vs Divisional opponents, home and away vs Conference opponents and 1 vs out of Conference opponents). 59 games will result in a more condensed schedule, but not dramatically.
I really hope I’m right and the two sides find a way to salvage this season.
I know this isn’t a betting prediction, but it’s a bold prediction into something that nobody really has a handle on with regards to what both sides are planning.
Only time will tell.
Tagged with: CBA • NHL Lockout