Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Hawks versus doves versus a super majority

09/18/2012 at 11:18am EDT

The Globe and Mail's David Shoalts believes that the solution(s) to a protracted lockout lie with the owners who don't toe Gary Bettman, Ed Snider or Jeremy Jacobs' harsh line, with the "moderates" possessing solid reasons to not reprise the last lockout's "crush the union at all costs" rationale:

The only way to turn this around is if the moderates like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and some of the other Canadian teams band together with their U.S. counterparts and the poorer relations to push the big boys into a deal. But it will not be easy.

Before the last lockout, Bettman had it written into the NHL bylaws he only needs eight no votes from the 30 owners to scuttle any proposed collective agreement from the NHLPA. As intended, this makes it awful difficult for him and his allies to be outflanked.

Among the key teams are the Los Angeles Kings, who finally won a Stanley Cup in one of the most important markets in the NHL, the St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators. The Kings are poised to make great strides in the second-largest NHL market thanks to a young championship team. The Sabres, Blues and Stars have new owners eager to revitalize their improving teams in established markets. The Lightning, Panthers and Predators all made strides in non-traditional markets after years of losses.

None of those teams want to see their hard-won progress slip away over a labour dispute that should have been avoided. It is possible for them to unite and sway their peers but at this point it is a formidable task thanks to the strength of the hardliners and Bettman's legislation.

Continued

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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