That's part of the problem....
George Bachul said:
People in some of the cities the NHL is in right now, don't really care about the sport. that's one of the major mistakes the owners made back in the late 90's. Over expansion to cities that don't get hockey was an unwise move. Granted, they wanted to grow the sport and it's hard to do so when people in a city don't get excited about a team in another city.
Personally, I'd love it if after this stoppage is over, to see the likes of Nashville, Carolina, Atlanta, Anaheim, Florida, disappear. That would kill over 100 NHL jobs for the PA and spread out the talent.
As a Canadian, doesn't really matter to me that much if hockey isn't that big in the US. Ultimately, hockey not being big in the States simply means that players and owners get less money from TV, advertising, etc. which doesn't bother me.
I'll miss hockey for the year it will be gone, but really, unless both sides can live with the same agreement, they're better off locked out. No different than a marriage. Both spouses need to be happy or content for it to be successful.
As for the writer, I can't blame him for not falling in love with hockey, given the state of the game. that finals between the Canes and Wings, wasn't very exciting.
Ideally, both sides would be working on improving the game rather than fighting over money, but that's the state we're in now.