Adam Proteau of The Hockey News was my guest Friday. When it comes to the NHL lockout, he’s slightly pro-player. I’m slightly pro-owner. But we try to see both sides. It made for excellent radio. Check it out on podcast.

I like the players. I know a lot of players. They have legit talking points. 

*Certain owners negotiated huge contracts in bad faith. Giving away big cash while counting on CBA rollbacks. Despicable. (Did the Penguins do that when signing Sidney Crosby to a 12-year, $104.4m deal this past June? I like to think not. Can’t see Mario Lemieux dealing that way with Crosby.) 

*The first offer of 43 percent (down from 57 percent) was seen as insulting. Not a cut, but an amputation. But get your knickers untwisted already.

*If I sign a contract, I want paid the figure agreed to. I want a make-good. A deal’s a deal. This isn’t the NFL. Contracts are guaranteed. 

These issues must be addressed. No doubt. 

But common sense has to creep into the picture, too.

In labor disputes, the owners always win. By how much depends on much schedule they’re willing to cancel. The teams don’t depreciate. The players do. They’re losing paychecks they can’t ever get back.

Idealism must, at some point, give way to reality. Both sides agree on 50-50. Now it's just a matter of navigating the route.

The only option the players have to playing in the NHL is NOT PLAYING IN THE NHL. Some could play a lesser level of hockey in a strange land for less money. Some wouldn’t play pro hockey at all. None of that is very fanciful.

NOT PLAYING IN THE NHL has nothing to do with common sense.

Performers in the radio business take pay cuts all the time. The real world sucks sometimes. And then you die. YIKES.

Courtesy of thenetminders.com-- Fan VS Fan.