from Damien Cox of The Spin,

Let's imagine that next month the union actually goes out of business.

No more tired and predictable Don Fehr blather. Nobody to spin what Roman Hamrlik or Kyle Turris "really" meant.

See, it's a better world already.

Let's imagine that the NHL would no longer be able to enforce its lockout, and that all player contracts would be null and void.

Even the Scott Gomez deal. The absurd "make whole" debate would be rendered moot. Hockey players would all be left to stand on their own two feet. No guaranteed contracts or benefits. Just whatever deal they could cut for themselves.

Maybe two or more teams would go immediately out of business. Lord knows Craig Leipold has never given anyone the impression he has the slightest idea of how to run a profitable or successful hockey enterprise. How did he ever get to Gary Bettman's inner circle?

But we'd probably stay at 30 teams and more than 700 jobs. In fact, Phoenix and Florida and Columbus could probably wait until Toronto, Philly, Detroit et al spent their brains out and then cobble together a roster for $20 million or so, much more within their price range.

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