I would think the only fans who would be really upset over a lockout would be pathetic hockey-obsessed losers with no or few other interests in their life. Most people would just spend the time they normally use to follow hockey on their other interests.
This is one of the most inane hot takes I've ever read, especially given the fact that there are plenty that would think that posting thousands of messages on an internet forum was a waste of time and therefore we as a whole are pathetic with few other interests.
Spoiler alert, if you like something, you have every right to be upset when business decisions that are completely out of your control prevent you from enjoying it, be that in sports lockouts or developers refusing to port a game you like to your console of choice or region or really just about anything. And as a consumer, if you fundamentally don't like the business decisions of the people behind that, your only really avenue to display your disdain is by withholding money.
There's a reason why Major League Baseball went from being the most unstable labor situation in major pro sports to going decades without even remotely sniffing a lockout, and that's because their fans had a backbone and told owners and players to **** off after the last strike, and both sides have been scared to their wits at attempting to do so again. Meanwhile, hockey fans just keep coming back and there's no reason to think that owners are remotely afraid of fan backlash.