It looks like there will be hockey this season. That's a good thing considering when this story broke most people replied "Something happened to Hockey?"
Both the league and the players reached a tentative agreement that was announced early Sunday morning. The proposed collective bargaining agreement is a 10 year deal with a mutual opt out clause after 8 years. Details of the CBA included a focus around revenue sharing as well as contract term limits and contract salary variances from year to year. It is not etched in stone but the proposed dates for the 2012/13 season to begin are either January 15th with a 50 game season or January 19th with a 48 game season.
While it would've been best for the league not to miss a single game, it's still a good sign that they were able to get a deal done and return for a shorter season than none at all back in the 2004/05 lockout. The labor disputes in the NHL are gone for now but this round of bargaining shows that Hockey still has the shakiest labor deals among the four big team sports in North America.
The NHL is now going to go through a condensed season like the NBA did last year which should make things very exciting down stretch.
P.S. Looks like the Sharks have no excuse anymore as to why they won't win the Cup in 2013.
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