Yeah, those veterans (using Brendan Morrison as my example) are much better off toeing the NHLPA hard line and playing in Europe for $120,000. Anyone else find it ironic that Morrison is willing to risk an injury for approximately 4% of what he's scheduled to make in the NHL?
Let's be serious. Once you cut through all of the rhetoric, the players are going to HAVE to take a pay-cut. They can either do it now, and minimize their losses by not losing an entire year of pay, or wait for a year for the owners to declare an impasse. Look at it another way - what does a 30 YO vet have to earn to make up for losing a year in the prime of his career?
If you look at the TSN proposal, with a $6M player cap, you would still have plenty of Vet's making $3M. They might be making $4M under their current contacts, but if the average salary is $1.4M'ish the players won't be in that bad of shape.