"We want the right deal. The hockey's not important."
"There is no money in Germany. There's no money, other than with a few teams, in Switzerland. The players may think, 'well, let's all go to Europe,' but I can tell the guys, there's not a lot of opportunity here. There's no real solution in Europe in terms of jobs because, if you look at the salary they can make and what they have to insure themselves for to cover their NHL futures, they actually don't make any money. They're playing for their per diems.”
"The hypocrisy of it is unbelievable. They don't want a salary cap, but they'll come to a league that has a salary cap and take someone else's job. I make $700 a week, and I have a wife and two kids and a mortgage payment. Here I wish I could play in the NHL for a fraction of what they make, and here they're going to come play in our league for $500 a week. It's really bizarre."
"I think that there are a number of fans in this country who have sensed over the last number of months that actually, maybe, it was more habit than it was passion. I think for the great majority, it's still a passion. But others have discovered that maybe it was something else. And so, as much as this can be problematic in the U.S., and that's where it's usually talked about, I think it's also a problem in this country."
"There are 700 guys trying to call one number, trying to talk to Bob. My feeling is I'm confused and disappointed. I thought the players were tougher on this." - Lightning defenseman Brad Lukowich.
"Why did we sit out all year to do this?" - Flyers' forward Turner Stevenson.
"Am I mad? No. I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far to play poker and to have someone call your bluff." - Mathew Barnaby.
"The game's just suffered an absolute blow it'll never recover from. They're totally underestimating the damage that's been done. I'm just really disappointed and, to be honest with you, I'm embarrassed to be a player in the NHL." - Hurricanes' captain Rod Brind'Amour.
"I'm sick when we go around to the restaurants. Some of the managers get mad at me: When are you playing? When are you playing? I don't blame them. It's devastating for them." - Blue Jackets' president Doug MacLean.
"I'm ashamed by what we did. Smart people should have solved this by today." - Kings' president Tim Leiweke
"I think the biggest thing I learned is that I probably shouldn't use the word 'never' as much as I did. Ultimately we have a cap and guys like me said we never would have one, so maybe we're eating our words in some sense." - Scott Walker of the Nashville Predators.
"When the Flyers or somebody offer you a big wet one on the lips, turn your back and say one word: 'Lower.' Make the owners pay to get you back - because they just won, big-time." - Columnist Rich Hoffman.
"You can't believe how excited I am because I missed it terribly. It's one of the greatest sports no one knows about." - Devils' fan Paul Brehne.
"At the end of the 301-day lockout, it can accurately be said that many NHL owners wanted to destroy executive director Bob Goodenow and the militant wing of the NHL Players' Association. And they were willing to spend billions to do so. So they did." - Columnist Bruce Dowbiggen.
Next page: More 2005 Hockey Quotes
