"If the PA wants fans to take them seriously...."
The degree to which some fans overestimate their role in this episode never ceases to amaze.
You are a
paying customer. To that extent, in a gate-driven business, you have a "hammer," in that you either pay for NHL entertainment or you don't.
That does not mean that the NHLPA's top priority in these negotiations should be to appease you! Make you "happy," convince you of anything! For, despite the melodrama espoused hourly on this board, the vast majority of NHL fans will return to the sport as soon as the CBA is signed. In fact, one can surmise that most haven't ever left, despite the hyperbolic alarmists
, i.e.,
"the league is doomed, I tell 'ya!"
The goal of the NHLPA was/is to strike a deal with the NHL that they find acceptable. Likewise, for the other side. Winning the "support" of the fans is a strategic means (only) toward achieving that goal.
It is not
"the goal". Big difference.
Sorry to rain on the "self-important" parade.