It Will Be Interesting To See ....
who crosses. Frankly, no NHL'r or NHL's in waiting (ie Spezza) is going to cross for peanut money. Before they'll cross, they're going to want multi-year contracts at a pretty good salary.
If you think the likes of Spezza are going to sign one year contracts for a couple of hundred thousands dollars, dream on. Same goes for established NHL players. All of them are going to want 2 year contracts at absolute minimum and at a salary that at worst is about 20% to 30% less than the past market. Don't be surprised if some of the owners start a bidding war on the upper echelon players and then find themselves left with only $3 million dollars worth of cap room to sign 10 players. Many of the owners have amply shown in the past that they can be really really stupid. Then again, some of them may well elect to pay the luxury tax penalty or whatever penalty the NHL decrees unless it is really excessive and just blow through the cap by 5 or 10 million dollars.
Only the fringe players or worse will accept pay by the game or one year contracts for $250K or less. In short, replacement hockey is going to result in some significant losses for some owners IMHO.
For the money, I'd rather go watch a good movie with the family, or hit the local bar and buy beers and watch replacement hockey on the tube in between baseball and whatever else on. No way I'm driving into the downtown core to spend alot of money on parking, meals, and arena food and beverages, unless the hockey is played at a fairly high standard.
