USA TODAY Sports asked NHL fans to email us their thoughts on the league's third lockout in 18 years (there also was a strike in 1992). Here's a sampling of what they said.
"I have told my ticket rep if the season is delayed one day, I want a full refund on my (partial season package). I will then not purchase tickets this year and the next, at a minimum. I will not spend $1 on NHL merchandise. I cannot believe that eight years after a season was lost, with record revenue for the NHL since, (Commissioner Gary) Bettman and the owners are locking out the players again and refusing to play under the expired CBA they are nearly 100% responsible for. It is the equivalent of spitting in the faces of the fans responsible for that record growth. If Bettman is counting on the die-hard fans to minimize damage to the game post-lockout, he is going to the well one time too many."
- New York Islanders fan Eric Nass, 43
"Players shouldn't have to take a pay cut to compensate for failing teams put in markets where hockey had no business there in first place."
- Sebas Theriault, 28, New Jersey Devils fan from Moncton, New Brunswick
"I grew up with my mom working two jobs to support me and my sister. I never went to a Flyers game until I was 17. It cost me a week's pay of summer work just to get a decent seat. I can honestly say I've never missed a game for as long as I can remember. But enough is enough,why do I care so much for the NHL like they're part of my family? I'm done, I'm sick of all the greed on BOTH sides. It's gonna take one hell of an apology to get me back. Not just a "Thank You Fans" painted next to the blue lines.
- Philadelphia Flyers fans Eric Krause, 27
"I am firmly on the side of the owners. The revenue split is ridiculously in favor of the players and they know it - which is why they are fighting so hard to keep it. But let's be honest, if you owned your own business. would you really be OK with giving your employees 57% of your revenues for showing up and doing their job? Would you be content with 43% of your revenues - out of which you (and only you) must pay bills with? I think not. So why should the NHL owners be expected to? If the players want to keep what they have, then they should be expected to pay their fare share of expenses - but you and I know that ain't gonna happen.'
- Frank Kulicki, 45, Vancouver Canucks fan from Windsor, Ontario
"I guess I'm learning Russian so I can watch the KHL."
- Josh Welch, 27, Nashville Predators fan living in Nevada
"I think the owners are to blame. They overpaid the players and signed them to huge contracts and then decide that the need to roll back salaries. Look at all of the last-minute deals that were signed before the CBA expired. And as for Gary Bettman, he needs to be replaced. He is running this league into the ground. Put someone who at least likes hockey as the commissioner. Not some NBA castoff. At this point, I think I am giving up on hockey for good (or at least until Bettman is gone) and my hope is that other fans do as well."
- Red Wings fans Jeff Ozanich, 38
"I just want to let everyone involved in these negotiations, players and owners, that you have killed any momentum built up in the last eight years not only throughout the league but in Music City. It's embarrassing as a fan going through this process again. I love hockey and stuck it out and came back after the '04 lockout and don't want to see our league take steps forward and now five steps back. We love hockey here in Nashville, and is it too much to ask to be able to watch Pekka Rinne snag pucks every night. Figure it out!!"
- Predators fans Ethan Regen, 21
"I have been a Caps fan all my life and this season my family purchased season tickets to the Caps for the first time ever. I am extremely disappointed in the both sides for allowing this to happen again. The NHLPA should not have stalled on this, they knew this was coming and did nothing. That being said I am very angry with the NHL. I can't believe how much hypocrisy is coming out of the NHL. How can they explain the signing frenzy that occurred the week before the expiration of the CBA and the amount of money that was thrown around? The league says the players are getting too much yet the days before the deadline we see well over $100 million dropped to lock players up. Then for the NHL to deny a request to meet the NHLPA yesterday and to turn around and send a message to fans saying they're working around the clock to get a deal done. If that were true, they'd be sitting through the night Friday working to get a deal done. I love hockey but the league is making very difficult to do that. The fans are the lifeblood of any sports league but the NHL is flat-out insulting us with the message it sent."
- Washington Capitals fans Andrew Gallant, 21
"I've been a Kings fan since I was 5 and waited 40 years for the Kings to win Lord Stanley Cup, and now we can't even complete our celebrations because of money grabbing by both sides. Get them in a room, give them a 50/50 document to start with and don't come out until it's signed."
- Los Angeles Kings fans Robert Wilkinson, 46,
I wonder if league officials, so focused on the Northeast and Canada, appreciate just how tenuous a foothold the NHL has in Sun Belt cities, from Tampa to Dallas, Phoenix, Anaheim, etc. And I wonder if hockey down here can survive a lengthy stoppage. Many fans I know are not happy. What a shame. Just as the league was gathering momentum."
- Dallas Stars fan Mike Drago, 46
"They -- the owners and the commissioner -- claim to have the fans in their best interest, but I don't buy it. If they had the fans in their best interest, they would build an economic system that makes the game more affordable, not one that makes the owners and the commissioner more wealthy. Every industry in America is fighting for more customers and they are doing so by organizing themselves around their customers, putting their customers front-and-center in everything they do. The NHL and its owners would benefit by doing the same, because it's a very fragile sport in an even more fragile economy, and we have other alternatives for which to spend our discretionary dollars."
- Chad Eddy, 43, fan of "the sport of hockey" from Columbus
"Sick of being viewed as nothing more than a wallet by fat cat, money-grubbing owners and misguided players. Tired of feeling helpless. I have one voice and it is my money. The money that they are fighting over."
- Carolina Hurricanes fans Mitch Richmond, 39
"Couldn't be more ambivalent about this ... and I live in Winnipeg where we just got our team back. Correction, I'm actually okay with it because it means I won't have to shell out $200-$300 every game day for ticket + food/drinks. Pricing model is ridiculous here."
- Winnipeg Jets fan Murray Moman, 48
"I see how this works. No season. My Winter Classic ticket goes to waste. And the Leafs pull the 30th pick/ball in the draft lottery next year. Lovely."
- Toronto Maple Leafs fan Jim Quan, 34
"It is absurd that the owners have decided that a system they destroyed an entire season to unilaterally implement just seven years ago is unfair or unsustainable. The NHL has never been more exciting or profitable, so it is embarrassing that the owners can't figure out how to divide up revenue. They seem to be actively trying to alienate both their die-hard fans and any marginal fans who may have begun to warm to hockey since the lockout. The sad truth is that while most of us fans will complain and watch other sports during the lockout, we will race back with open wallets once the league returns. While I'm hopeful that this will be resolved by Thanksgiving, I'm also afraid that they will try to copy the NBA and play a condensed schedule with too many back-to-back games in order to make up for lost revenue. Such a schedule would lead to a decreased quality of play and more injuries."
- New York Rangers fan Charlie Vidal, 22
"Don't they learn from history? Everyone's greed is what prevented them from playing and operating before. They know the fans come first, but truth is, they only care about themselves."
- Steven Tan, 20, Anaheim Ducks fan living in the Philippines
"It's incredibly disappointing, especially knowing they could have began these discussions a year ago. This isn't a college midterm paper. From the last two lockouts they should have learned you can't "cram" for a CBA."
- Devils fans Kristin Tullo, 26
"In 20 years, four lockouts is a disgrace to the greatest sport. It is embarrassing and leaves hockey fans with a hole that cannot be filled with football, baseball, and basketball. What is being robbed of the fans is something immeasurable and irreplaceable. In the economic state we are in now, it is inconceivable that a billion-dollar increase in revenue is unsatisfactory. And because of this, we lose a sport with the greatest fans and greatest tradition. This lockout is unacceptable and exceptional changes must be made to management before anyone is forced to experience a loss like this again."
- Detroit Red Wings fan Cody Gradwell, 19
"What I find particularly galling about the lockout is people everywhere are struggling to make ends meet, working several jobs, still finding it hard, and you've got millionaires arguing with billionaires over money. Yeah, yeah, I get that players only have a limited career and face the likelihood of post-retirement nagging injuries. And I get that owners put their financial futures on the line. I get all that. But the fact of the matter is, they're both being grossly overpaid, especially in a day and age when so many struggle for so many.
"I'd love to be able to watch NHL hockey, and I'm sure I will when it comes back. But, for now, there's NFL football (a league that's become the biggest in the world by doing what the NHL can't learn: not shooting itself in the foot and getting out of its own way), there's a multitude of exciting films about to open, and there's junior hockey. It would serve these petulant millionaires right if they locked themselves out, and nobody cared."
- Edmonton Oilers fan Caley Middleton, 32
"I will still watch hockey with a passion when they return, but I will lose some respect for the NHL."
- Philadelphia Flyers fan Mark Kremer, 16
"No wonder Bettman gets boos every time he steps on the ice in an NHL venue; he's made 'NHL labor dispute' as inevitable as death and taxes."
- Ed Opitz, 46, Colorado Avalanche fan from Toronto
"Until now, I supported Commissioner Bettman as the head of the NHL. However, his decision to have a third lockout in his era has changed my mind. It sends the game's momentum in the wrong direction. I'm not a fan of Donald Fehr, either, but this situation is ridiculous. There has to be a happy medium here, and it needs to be found FAST. Both sides should be meeting several hours everyday until this is ironed out. I can't believe the posturing is STILL going on between the two sides. Are you trying to alienate ALL hockey fans?"
- San Jose Sharks fan Janice Dressler, 51
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