CBA Hat-Trick from The Extra Period

Now that you've had 24 hours to deal with whichever emotions have been evoked from the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring, we present to you: The Extra Period CBA Hat-Trick

TJ Molland:

It's the same old song and dance. Once again the NHL and the NHLPA are on the verge of locking out the start of a season because the two sides can't seem to find a middle ground for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. Once again fans sit by, anxiously waiting for any good news to reassure them that hockey is coming this fall. Once again...it doesn't look promising.

With only days until the previous CBA expires and the players are locked out, neither side seems confident in a season happening. Which isn't good news. Not just for the fans but the league and it's players as well. Simply put, they can't afford a lockout. They just CAN'T.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to write this piece but I am at a point where I just don't have faith in either side to come to an agreement beforehand. After a little inspiration from this video I felt I needed to outline a few reasons why the NHL can't afford to lock it's players out again.

The Fans Won't Forgive You

After the first lockout fans came back in record numbers. The game blossomed in markets that were once thought extinct, and things were looking up. You break their hearts again and it won't be the same. Who wants to watch a sport that threatens a lockout every handful of years because the owners and players can't decide on revenue sharing? It's like your favourite show that gets cancelled. When it comes back everyone realizes how much they missed it. It gets cancelled again and everyone loses faith in it ever coming back.

Remember during last years NBA lockout when fans realized how awesome hockey was? They flocked over to a new sport because theirs was also stuck in a labour dispute. Those fans won't stick around through a lockout. They will go back to the NBA. Sports fans will change their viewing habits based on what is on at the time. When you aren't playing, the sports fans will follow the ones that are. Don't give them a reason to.

Pick the Franchises You Want to Lose

Financial troubles in Phoenix, Arena woes on Long Island. How do you tell these struggling franchises everything will be okay, when you are taking away their only means of making money? After years of struggling to find an owner it looks like someone might finally be stepping up to purchase the Coyotes. But how do you convince somone to buy a floundering franchise in a time when that franchise might not even play?

What about the folks over in New York? The Islanders are looking for a new arena for when their lease runs out in 2015. How do you convince politicians and the public to keep you around when you aren't even playing? Sad news for a once acclaimed franchise. These aren't things being considered at the bargaining table.

Forget Growing in Certain Markets

LA Kings, Stanley Cup Champions. Pretty good marketing for a franchise that has been buried under the spotlight of the always conteding LA Angels and LA Lakers They also have to compete with the new kid (well not new but relevant again) the Clippers. But at this point and time you are the champions. People love a winner and you have one. Not if they don't play next year. What meaning will raising a banner have when it happened 2 years ago. By that point you could have another World Series winner or NBA Champion to contend with. Right now you have the upper hand to solidify the Kings in the Hollywood market. You won't in a year.

You WILL Lose Star Power

You often hear (mostly from Canadians) that Europeans and Russians don't care about the Stanley Cup. Lots do but there are a few that aren't so fond of playing in North America. Well locking out the players is going to give lots of them the opportunity to explore other options. Arguable the 3 best players in the game right now, Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin, have said they will go play in Russia's KHL league if there is no NHL season. For Ovechkin and Malkin that is home. What if things go well for them over there? Malkin already has a Cup. Not much to entice him to come back. Other players might go to clubs around the continent and find new homes better than the ones they had. Why would anyone want to play for a league where you are asked twice in 8 years to take a pay cut?

Who Else do You Want to Hurt

It won't just be the players or owners losing money. What about the bars that rely on heavy hockey traffic to drive sales? Or the cabs that drive people home afterwards? Jersey's won't be flying off the shelf if there isn't games going on. There is a ripple effect that will be heard throughout cities. And furthermore where will your fans take their money? Lots of other sports jerseys out there. Lots of other tickets in town. Or how about the employees of your arenas, servers at the bar, cab drivers, retail employees. It's going to affect their bottom line. You aren't the only ones that make money off an NHL season.

I want to say that if the NHL locks out I won't come back, but it is so engrained in me that I know I will. But how many others will? Is it be worth fighting over dollars when there might not be any to come back to? Neither side is looking big picture right now and that is their downfall. Quit playing in the offensive and defensive zones. Line up in the neutral zone and drop the puck.

Bik Nizzar:

Imagine that you are friends with me.

We've been friends since you found me. We’ve had our highs, we've had our lows. We see each other at least 82 times a year. Usually I come visit you in the comfort of your own home but on some rare occasions, roughly once or twice a year, you visit me. In fact, you pay good money to see me. It doesn’t bother you, you're glad to do it especially since it helps me and you're thrilled to see me do well. The 3 hours we visit are great. Sometimes it’s a winning visit, sometimes a losing one, but you're happy to see me because I entertain you.

Your other friends know me really well and you talk about me all year long. Nothing I don’t already know about myself but you all endlessly debate how I do things and what you would do differently to get the most out of myself. In years that you're lucky enough, I take you on an emotional roller coaster from April-June. This is where our friendship is tested the most but it’s also the time when we have the most fun. It's a time when I've provided you with great memories. You'll cherish most of them, repress some of them, and argue incessantly with anyone who disputes my credentials.

It’d be fair to say that I've taken advantage of the relationship. After-all you pay to see me. You even buy shirts and paraphernalia with my name on it. You've exhausted thousands of hours, and maybe even dollars, on me. But you don’t mind because I've been there for you. I've been there completely unknowingly, but I've been there when you needed me.

You noticed something about our relationship as the years have passed. Nothing overly earth shattering, but our friendship was rather one-way. You give and I take. Not even a 60%-40% trade off... I'm talking 95-5% trade off. It became more evident than normal in 2004 when I decided to shut you out for a year. You thought we would hang out for our customary 82 times, but alas you were left empty handed without me for a year. I also had 29 colleagues that I hung out with more. You understood to a degree since I have much more in common with them than with you, but it sucked to be without me for a year. I listened to my 29 colleagues and they convinced me that no matter what I did, you would still be there when I returned. I dressed it up nicely by saying I was so unhealthy I needed to make some changes to my foundation, which you bought, and I carried on without you. I disappeared for a year. You wanted me to be there and I wasn't. It became public knowledge that I said I needed to be fixed so you had to listen to people analyze me and come up with their ways of how to fix me. It was brutal.

Even though that year without me was rough, you have to give me credit because when I decided we could be friends again I came back better than ever: More exciting, more personable, and more accessible in every way. We looked back at that year away and said “We are better friends for it.” If you were in my shoes you would have stayed by my side and been there for me, but you understood that I needed to make some lifestyle changes. Sure I robbed you of a year to see me but you got over it. My 29 colleagues were right. You were still here upon my return. But now you were awake and not so naive to think it couldn't happen again.

We quickly repaired the friendship and tried to pretend 2004 never happened. You might have forgiven me, but you could never forget. I mean – look what I did. I vanished for a year. I mentioned at times that something similar could happen in 2012, you just didn't think I would have the audacity to pull the same stunt a mere 7 years later. And this time it makes less sense than before. I'm healthier than I was before, richer than I was before, and even worse – don’t need to make drastic fundamental changes to my lifestyle. I've just decided to be as greedy as possible just to test your resolve in this friendship and am willing to go so far as to shut you out again. That April-June stretch, our friendship is tested for the better. But this – this is testing your belief in me.

Don't I sound like a genuine jerk? Would you want to spend any more time with me?

Now imagine your friend is an NHL Franchise... 

Liam Schneider: 

So the NHL and the NHLPA are still apparently 8% apart on revenue sharing. For the players a lockout seems all but imminent. The current collective bargaining agreement has expired and another NHL season seems to be in jeopardy. The preseason is most likely going to be the first casualty of these ongoing negotiations between the two sides. Really any hockey fan isn't going to care all that much until the regular season which is supposed to start in October when we start losing a portion of those 82 games that we love to watch. Whether you sit in front of your television with specific food and beverage that goes with that game of the night. Or maybe you're unable to be seated in front of your tv and you are constantly checking your phone or computer for updates on all of your favorite teams that might be playing that night. You are still going to need to find other sports or hobbies to fill the void these unfortunate events have caused.

With the NBA work stoppage last year and the regular season not starting until Christmas time the NHL gained a lot more support and exposure in the US. Hockey is obviously more popular in Canada than the US, Americans started to follow Canada's pastime more closely. Now with a reverse situation from this time last year does the NBA gain all those fans back? Would they have started watching basketball again this year regardless? Do some NHL fans fill the void left by hockey with basketball? Personally myself I cannot watch basketball. I call basketball a highlight sport, its one where I can turn on the highlights and find out all I need to know about all the games that took place that night just by watching the clips. I honestly don't want this to turn into a basketball bash but the last two minutes in a game seem to take a eternity.

Now maybe like me you decide football? Whether its the CFL or the NFL I like both and consider them to be two completely different games. Just with similar sized balls, equipment and name. Despite the similarities add up how many games in each of the leagues and you still seem to be short on sports and bad habit fulfillment (burgers, pizza and beer). An NHL season is 82 games long for each of the 32 teams whereas the NFL is 16 games with 30 teams. The CFL is 18 games with 8 teams. Now where the NHL's schedule is spread throughout the week on any day football games are concentrated mostly on weekends as well as some Mondays and Thursdays. Now work playoffs into the equation and depending on how long these negotiations take we could be missing our beloved Stanley Cup runs we count on watching every year. College football is always another option but I believe with the offensive styles in college football you don't get to see the defensive side of the ball enough and I already feel the CFL fills that void.

Now just because NHL may not happen this year that DOES NOT and I repeat DOES NOT mean hockey is dead. You can find someway of watching the KHL or the Swedish Elite league? The KHL has made a statement this past week saying that if there were to be a lockout they would only want elite caliber players. Now what about the players that are not regular top 6 forwards on an NHL team? Well those guys would be playing in the AHL, most NHL teams have already started assigning players to their AHL affiliates. You will still be able to see some of the players from your favorite team on North American Soil. Some of the U20 players who have not played 9 or more games in the NHL are still eligible to play in the juniors. Now this is the caliber of hockey I will be watching if I ever feel the itch to watch a rubber puck sliding on ice from stick blade to stick blade. With the CHL(juniors) you will be seeing the NHL stars of tomorrow. By watching this brand of hockey after this negotiation debacle a new collective bargaining agreement will have enabled you to watch an up and coming star on the horizon.  

Hopefully the players and owners can come to some kind of agreement in the near future so no fan is deprived of what is no doubt going to be an exciting season. I don't believe the steps taken by the NHL in the past few years have contributed to building its fan base. The NHL cannot afford to lockout its players. Whether it was Crosby vs. Ovechkin, Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, or the 24/7 shows the NHL has been doing the last two years it has done a great job of marketing its product. It would be a shame to see all that hard work go to waste.