NHL is Back

Finally.  113 days and over 500 missed games later, the NHL lockout appears to be over.

"We still have a lot of work to do," said Emperor Gary Bettman, "but it's good to be at this point."

The collective bargaining agreement is for 10 years with a mutual opt-out clause after eight years.  There is also a new contract term limit of seven years for players.  In order for this deal to become official, it must be ratified by both the NHL board of governors and NHLPA membership.

The season has two possible starting dates: a 50-game season starting Jan. 15, or a 48-game season to start on Jan. 19.  Either way, a full playoff schedule will take place, extending to the end of June.

Teams can spend up to $70.2 million in the first year of the deal, but the 2013-14 salary cap will drop down to $64.3 million.  There are a lot of other details to sort out about the deal, but the important part is that the lockout appear to be done, and we will see NHL hockey by the end of the both.

Now for the tricky part.  To me, there is no better sport to watch than hockey.  Being at a college basketball game or a baseball game comes close, but the pace and intensity of an NHL game cannot be matched.  That being said, I highly doubt I will be in attendance at any game this season.  The higher ups in the NHL treat their fans like trash, and being a Bruins fan, there is no bigger example of that than Jeremy Jacobs. 

Sources claim that he was one of the biggest reasons the talks kept dissolving, and only a scumbag like him would give huge contracts to players like Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin knowing that the lockout would nearly all but cancel them out.  I will still watch hockey and TV, and still root for the Bruins wearing my Adam McQuaid jersey.  As pumped as I am for the start of the season, I know that it just starts the eight year countdown for another idiotic labor dispute to start up again.