State of the lockout

With yesterday's official announcement that NHL will not go forward with replacement players and thus wants to negotiate a settlement with the NHLPA, there is a lot of optimism in the blogosphere. One of the most credible optimistic threads is from Tom Benjamin.

I think its too early to declare the lockout over. There is still fundamental disagreement between the owners and the players. It will take quite a while to hammer that out. Still maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I think that the players have already given up too much to the owners. I have strong reservations about the next CBA being better for the hockey fan - I think it could be worse - but without exact details that is mere speculation. It is clear that the new CBA agreement will likely be similar to if not less than what the owners could have negotitated in January or February. The loss of a season accomplished what?

The possibility of new NHL hockey is a good thing, but the ugliness is not over and it remains to be seen if the new CBA (and proposed rule changes) will not make the hockey worse.