Good.
Despite what some of you might believe, a 28-game season
- with multiple unsigned FA players
- passport issues to be worked out
- arena date schedule to be juggled
simply wouldn't be feasible. Sure, it'd be a mad race to the playoffs and all, but really - the effort needed to get the infrastructure rolling again would be near-impossible under the schedule the NHL would be under. Not to mention the asterisk that the eventual SC winner would always have beside their franchise.
I want to see the game on the ice fixed. I want the economics to make sense long-term, not just to jimmy it into some bullshit last minute deal to save face with ESPN (and face it folks, America doesn't give a rat's ass about hockey). If losing the ESPN television deal is part and parcel of getting my game back, so be it.
Contract certain teams. Fix the revenue and player contract situation. Bring the game back to where it matters (ie. Canadian cities) and support the American cities that have demonstrated sustained support for hockey (ie. Minnesota, Columbus). To hell with the rest of them.
Do it right or don't do it at all. That's what I say.