from Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet,

... It's really a shame for guys like Sid, Ovie and Toews because they deserve better, because of the promotional grunt work they have done the past eight years. My generation would simply have told the league to take a flying leap on many of their "outside the box" ideas. Fat chance of ever seeing Mario or Wayne putting on their team jerseys and delivering season tickets door to door. Hey Gary, isn't that why you have sales people and access to UPS?

A Sunday NHL all-star game that feels like it lasts more than a long weekend? Good luck getting Brett Hull or Patrick Roy to parade like cattle while the league's corporate partners poke and prod ... oh sorry Jimmy D, let's not go there.

Not these present day players, though. Before labour unrest, Ovie and the boys were willing to do anything to put hockey on the map. Would Steve Yzerman or Mark Messier ever put on a silly hat, sun glasses, or Superman cape on and dive head first into a goalie to sell the game? Not for all the tea in China. Yet today's players went the extra mile so the league could finally get the U.S. national TV/cable deal that had eluded them since the days of the stupid glowing puck.

So will the players be willing to go the extra mile again once this meaningless lockout ends? I'm not so sure.

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