from Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

A gulf remains between the two sides. And an even bigger gulf remains between the owners’ negotiating position today and their own actions during the summer.

Remember that crazy free agency spending spree? Remember those contract offers with eight-digit signing bonuses and total values approaching $100 million?

The owners and players got along swimmingly back then. Year after year of revenue growth apparently left NHL teams flush with cash, judging the massive offers being made. Some owners eliminated the word “no” from their vocabulary.

Even mid-level players cashed in with generous long-term contracts and healthy signing bonus. Some teams could not spend money fast enough.

General managers emptied their franchise vault, handed over stacks of money and then posed for photographs with their lucky player – blissfully ignorant of the damage they were doing to their industry.

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