Is a Lockout even Necessary?

        With the recent passing of the deadline for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and owners, on September 15th, the NHL has began it's third lockout in the league's history (all since 1994). Since the 2004-05 lockout, which resulted in the league missing an entire season, the NHL has made tremendous progress on the ice, on the financial side, and in the league's popularity. After 2004-05, many believed that the NHL could never be as good as it had been prior, but the league exceeded what it once was. Another lockout can and will erase all progress made since 2004-05, and it's a real shame, because locking out the players is not even an effective negotiating tactic. Sure, the fans are upset about the lockout (which is unfortunately irrelevant in this situation), but it puts no pressure on either side to make a deal faster. It only makes the players lives a little more difficult.
        The message that a lockout sends to the players is this: if you want to play this season, then you have to agree to our deal. The problem with that is that a lot of players will play this season regardless if it's in the NHL, or anywhere else. Many players, like Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin and Senators defenseman Sergei Gonchar, have signed contracts to play overseas in Europe. Malkin and Gonchar both signed contracts to play with Metallurg of the KHL, until the NHL and NHLPA reach an agreement on a new CBA. Sure, Malkin, Gonchar, and the other players playing overseas would much rather playing in the NHL (and why not; it's the best league in the world), but they are still playing professional hockey, which is what the objective of a lockout is to deprive them of. 
        The players, for the most part, are still playing hockey this season, so why not negotiate while playing a regular season? The unfortunate answer that we all have to live with: because that would make too much sense.

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