As bleak as things look now there's a good chance he might get the last laugh on his critics.

Perhaps a deal gets signed and in the not too distant future the league's Phoenix mess is a memory, the New York Islanders are selling out the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the NHL returns to full houses in Quebec City and is eagerly anticipating a second team in Southern Ontario.

Hockey could become an established fixture on a burgeoning NBC Sports Network and the players might find themselves richer than they could have ever dreamed, with their 50 per cent (or so) share of a potentially $5-billion revenue pie driving the league's average salary to $3.6 million, more than triple what it was coming out of the 2004-05 lockout.

David Stern is getting out and will be acclaimed for what he's done for the NBA. If Bettman gets out at the right time and the league continues on the path he's put it on his enemies might have to find it in themselves to say something good about him -- even Donald Fehr.

-Michael Grange of Sportsnet where you can read more on this topic.