from Lyle Richardson of Spector's Hockey.

Since the NHL lockout began, a number of stories have highlighted the plight of lesser paid NHL employees facing layoffs or salary reductions, as well as the effect upon those in the service and hospitality industries reliant upon the business generated by their local NHL team.

Yet there’s been almost nothing about the effect the lockout is having upon those who cover the NHL as freelance writers or bloggers.

I recently sent out a series of tweets asking for freelancers and bloggers to share their lockout stories with me. My thanks to those who took the time to respond.

Darryl Dobbs, Dobbersports.com/DobberHockey.com:

“(My) ad revenue is down 80%, guide sales are down 50%. If I was a bachelor in a bungalow or townhouse or apartment, I’d be pretty screwed. But my wife makes enough to cover off the bills, Christmas for the kids to get us through. And I had enough guide sales early on (release date is August 1) to cover off site costs, pay the site’s managers (though they’ll thankfully be taking “rollbacks” starting January). The goalie guide helps a bit…but even those sales, which ironically were supposed to help soften the blow, won’t take off unless a season starts next month.

continued

Regarding KK, I mentioned it about 1 1/2 months ago in our semi-annual donation request and since that time and especially since the NHL legal action, KK numbers have fallen big time.

Yes the holiday season has something to do with that but I think most fans, even the die-hard ones which KK attracts, have had enough and just can't take what this lockout brings us.

Hopefully we get some kind of closure soon, either play or go home. If it is option 2, I have no idea where that would take me, maybe I will start blogging about labor law!