Hockey Back on the Menu

Hockey is finally back on the menu. I'm on board ... lace them up and play now. I am interested in seeing how things shake out. Some of my favorite players will take a serious hit on this cap, but the league will be much better off in that regard. What will be tough for the league is to get back the fan base that left and does not intend to come back.

Fans like you find in Canada and in some of the US markets will come back and be happy to see hockey again, but if you look at baseball, it was the people who didn't come back that hurt the MLB. That will be the case for hockey as well. The fans on the fringe are what will make or break the NHL. Make the game more appealing and work to bring those fans in (or get new fringe fans) and the league will become prosperous. It may take some time, but it will happen.

There may be some benefits to the players that are intangible to the CBA. I think that the players will be identified with more by fans ... losing 24% of their salary will make players seem more "blue collar" if you will. That will help with the same issue above.

The players can make that an advantage if they can be approachable to fans.