Wiping out an entire season is an insult to NHL fans, and a lead pipe to the shaky knees of the pro hockey industry. We knew that all along.
But to cancel a season after the events of the last 48 hours only thickens the aura of farce, pettiness and bumbling incompetence surrounding the league.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman officially axed the 2004-05 season today, after a late breakthrough in negotiations failed to secure a new collective agreement with the players.
Having sneered at each other from seperate towers for as long as anyone can remember, the NHL and NHL Players' Association suddenly discovered compromise on Monday. Both sides sacrificed long-held principles and the middle ground appeared to open. If this were October, December or even January, the current gap could almost surely be bridged by a few more negotiating sessions.
Instead, the process ended with a flurry of snotty letters between Bettman and NHLPA head Bob Goodenow.
It's hard to believe that the NHL's reputation could sink any further. But by coming so close and falling short, the league and the Players' Association added a twist of the knife that dedicated hockey fans will not soon forget, or forgive.
As the NHL reaches new levels of self-mutilation, it's worth recalling the recent words of Keith Primeau[/link], Philadelphia Flyers' captain and 15-year veteran:
"You hear how certain people believe that the hard-core fan will definitely return, that the damage isn't irreparable. I think that's a huge miscalculation or judgment in error of who and what your fan base is. That, I think, is going to alarm a lot of people when the doors are re-opened."
