Vote: How Concerned Are You About an NHL Lockout for the 2012-13 Season?

by NESN Staff on Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 7:57PM

The Los Angeles Kings capped off an epic NHL season with a bang back in June, as the No. 8 seed took home the Stanley Cup for the first time in league history.

But that impressive feat may not be allowed an encore performance in the 2012-13 season, as both the league and players remain at odds regarding a new collective bargaining agreement.

The owners made their proposal back on July 13, asking the players to take a significant pay cut — from their current stake of 57 percent all the way down to 46 percent of the league’s annual revenue. The owner’s demands also included a change in contract lengths, limiting them to a maximum of five years, and further enforcing the hard salary cap instituted during the last version of the CBA.

On Tuesday, the NHLPA made their counteroffer to the owners and actually had much more reasonable terms. The players are apparently willing to stick with the hard salary cap and even agreed to a moderate pay cut as long as the league provides a more balanced revenue-sharing system to benefit small-market teams.

Tuesday’s developments are definitely a step in the right direction for these stalemated negotiations, but there is still a ways to go before a settlement will be agreed upon.

So while the possibility of a lockout still looms around the NHL, how concerned are you about the potential loss of games next season?

How worried are you about a lockout during the 2012-13 NHL season?