This is bad for the owners.

There's still a lot of money left in the owners' $300-million US lockout fund. Very few teams have touched the so-called war chest, compiled by the National Hockey League to help out owners during the lockout, according to a report in Thursday's Globe and Mail. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's $300 million US war chest for the owners apparently still has a lot of money left in it, according to a report. "Only a handful of clubs have tapped into their fund at this point," NHL vice-president Bill Daly told the Globe. The fund, started several years ago by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, isn't a huge pool of money owners can draw from when they are struggling to pay their bills. Instead, owners are limited to taking up to $10 million.

First, you cannot compare an owner, a millionaire businessman, to a millionaire hockey player. The hockey player needs to scale back he needs a few tens of thousands and an european contract. An owner needs millions as he lives on revenue over debt payments. Every owner has 25 millionaires to pay as well as dozens of other staff. The hockey player doesn't. Ten million a team is diddly and if that is all the NHL could put in a war chest over all the years this consequence was known, well, I know where I am going looking when they need general counsel next time.

The union should feel very good. Why? Like an appeal case, you only need the numbers, not everyone. Unlike an appeal case, you do not need the majority. Who do you need? How many teams is the NHL willing to let go under? That is the crap shoot we are in now - it has little to do with the players at all.