There is growing concern among some inside hockey that at this point, the sport's fans have checked out. They may have stuck around for the traditional CBA negotiations, but now that we're entering the lawsuit-filing portion of the program, interests are turning elsewhere. One player described his feeling as numb, which is an apt description because it just doesn't seem plausible that two sides so close to making a deal could suddenly appear so far apart.
The optimism of even a week ago is gone, replaced by labor-board filings and a sudden, complete lack of discussion between the NHL and the NHLPA. We're on a path this week to more canceled games, pushing into January, news of tallied votes on the NHLPA moving closer to a disclaimer of interest and, ultimately, a wiped-out season.
But if you prefer to believe these negotiations had to reach their ugliest depths before finding a solution and that only at its darkest moments would we reach a positive conclusion, then there's good news. We're closing in on those depths.
So how did it get to this point? How in the world did two sides take a sport with so much momentum and hurl it into the courthouse?
Remove all the emotion and it's quite simple, suggested Penn State sports law scholar Stephen Ross.
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- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
Follow Craig on Twitter: @CraigCustance
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