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Chris · Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:32 am Post subject: NHL is back!

I don't know if any of you are hockey fans or not but the NHL players and NHL owners have struck a deal and the lockout is over!!!

I am a huge hockey fan and I for one am happy that the agreement is finished.

Up front it looks like it is going to be a good deal for all sides. The players have the benefit of unrestricted free agency at 27 now, higher minimum salary, and even if they don't like it, their salary is tied revenues. Having their salaries tied to revenues means that eventually players will make more money then they are now, as league revenues go up, but now it will not be just the elite players that benefit from this, but all players salaries will go up. In the end I think this will be good for the players, even if they cannot get the 10 million a year deals anymore.

The owners got the salary cap they were after and IMO the cap was needed. Teams like the Redwings, Rangers, Stars and Blues were driving players salaries up to a point where teams like Calgary, Columbus, Edmonton and Florida to name a few couldn't afford to compete for free agents. Some have argued that this hasn't affected much if you look at the last few Stanley Cup champions but I disagree. With the exception of the Rangers, who for whatever reason cannot seem to ice a decent team no matter how much money they spend, the other high paying teams were always at the top of the league standings. They may not have won the cup each year but they cause the less fortunate teams a lot of problems by driving payroll up to a point where it was starting to get difficult to ice competitive teams.

There are also some new rules this year, and as a hockey purist I am not certain if I am going to like them. The no touch icing is a good idea and needed to be added years ago. Moving the nets back putting more ice in front will also help offensive teams. Shortening the neutral zone might be the one rule that will not work. Having a smaller neutral zone might make it easier for teams to defend the trap but I am willing to be patient and see how it all works out. Shoot out following regular season games is just a gimmick to sell the game to the US as they do not like ties but whatever. I think it is a terrible way to decide a game. The whole game is played by the team and the final could be decided by one or two players in a shootout. Not my idea of a fair way to decide a game.

Okay, so the deal is signed. LETS PLAY HOCKEY!!!

I can’t wait.