Whos to blame for the nhl shutout?

[nomorelies]

As an Edmonton Oiler fan i`m pretty cheesed of with the owners. The owners only are in the game to make profit.

Look at football. People who are passionate about the game blow all their money on trying to get their club to succeed. But in America its all about profit. If i had the money i would buy a team and spend all the money i could to get them success.

I would love to buy the Oilers/Everton and try and compete for the Stanley Cup/Premiership but what these owners do in America is only harm the game.

Canada worships hockey like the world with football. Dont take it away from the fans. If the owners arent in it to succeed but also make profit then sell up to those that want success.

[YRABNNRM]

I was expecting the troll to blame Bush...suprise suprise!

[NYGOP]

The players are totally to blame. If the NHL was sensible and only had half of the teams they have now, half of the players would be out of work!

These players make millions of dollars to play a game which America no longer likes. They have to realize that the NHL is doing everything it can to keep all of the current teams afloat.

If I were the NHL I would have dismantled half of the current teams a year ago when this event was foreseeable.

[RomneyGekko Situation Hairgel]

Players.  They're too demanding when they get old.  Average defenseman should not be making $3 million per year.

[True Federalist]

Plenty of blame for both sides here.  If some owners really want cost certainly, there is absolutely nothing that prevents them from putting in individual player contracts that the player gets a certain percentage pf particular revenue streams.  (Getting an individual player to accept such terms might be more difficult.)  On the other hand, it is clear that the the NHL needs to cut costs.  It is impossible for player salaries to remain at the level they have reached.  Also the NHL needs to contract, which they have done before (in the period from 1931 to 1942 the NHL contracted from 10 to only 6 teams with the last team to go being the Brooklyn Americans)  They need to shirink from 30 to 24 teams.  The NHL has failed in its attempt to become a league that is followed everywhere in the USA.  Most of the southern teams need to either fold or move.  (Minorleague hockey is succeeding in the south, but minor league sports follow a different business model than major league sports and the south is not prepared to support major league hockey.

[badnarikin04]

The players. They just looked at the salaries for other sports one day and said... Hey, we've never been pricks off the ice before, let's give it a try!!!!!!

[Akno21]

There was a thread that was up very recently before 9/21, called nhl dead? that had some good discussion. Does anyone know where it went?

[Gustaf]

I sort of like the shutout, it has brought back a lot of NHL players to the Swedish league, such as the Sedin brothers, Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Forsberg.

[Siege40]

I blame the players. I doubt that they deserve the type of money they earn. Regardless, I want my hockey back.

Siege