Stick a fork in the Minnesota Wild, they are done for the year. They spoiled us last year
So what are the chances there will be a 04-05 season?
Yep, Brunette is about to be yanked in my pool.
But to answer your question:
Zip, zero, nada, zilch, no stinking way.....
The players have no interest in a new CBA with a salary cap, so it will be long and ugly.
The owners may or may not be telling the truth about the number of teams losing money. One thing is certain though. They can write off their losses due to the lockout and don't have to pay the players. If the money losing is true, the lockout probably leaves them further ahead financially, or in a no lose situation.
No offense intended to the players, but they are a bunch of highly talented and greedy, spoiled little children. Listening to the player reps has to be the most annoying thing in the world as they talk about
deserving and
entitled to. Um. No. Sorry, you're not. Like all sports you're grossly overpaid, often for a distinct lack of effort.
Couple all of that with Bettman's mismanagement of the league (yes, the US has all the money, but none -relatively speaking - of the interest). I have no disagreement with places like the northern states having hockey or Texas for that matter. But San Jose, two teams in LA, Carolina, two if Florida, Nashville? Give me a break.
Do note this all comes with a major heaping of sour grapes. Being from Winnipeg where we averaged a meagre 12,500 fans per game (by the way that's butts in the seats, not tickets given away
) it's really annoying to tune into what should be a really good game in Carolina or LA and see 60%+ of the seats sitting empty on a Saturday night.