The NHL is going to be back next season! The NHL lockout is over!

I am looking forward to watching the Oilers maybe do better than 8th place in their division. I am also looking forward to the 1 o'clock matinees on Saturdays. It is awesome getting out of bed and turning on the TV and watching hockey. I also missed watching highlights late at night over and over. I guess there was a lot of things I missed.

Even though I am mad at both sides for missing a year of hockey I think that the NHL will be a better game when it comes back. I would much rather see the business side of the NHL go the way of the NFL rather than the joke that is major league baseball.

Heres a quick overview from TSN on the main points of the agreement with my comments on each point:

- a hard team-by-team salary cap with a payroll of range of $21 million to $39 million (in the first year), which includes all player costs (benefits, insurance etc).

Perfect for the Oilers but bad for the Red Wings. I bet the players are kicking themselves for not accepting the $45 million dollar cap that was offered to them by the NHL to try and save last season.

- the league's total expenditure on player costs (salaries, bonuses, benefits and insurance) is not permitted to exceed 54 per cent of defined hockey-related revenue and the salary cap and payroll range will move up or down as revenues increase or decrease each year of the deal.

This seems like a good idea only if the NHL reports their revenues right. It seems sketchy for the players.

- a 24 per-cent salary rollback for any NHL player who has time remaining on an existing contract, keeping in mind that the players will receive none of the monies they were slated to earn in the lost season of 2004-05.

I look at this as punishment for missing a season. Did missing a season hurt the owners at all? I bet the Oilers made money.

- liberalized free agency (including unrestricted status at 27 by year four of the deal), a more restrictive entry level system, totally revamped salary arbitration, improved pension benefits and a revenue-sharing plan.

Unrestricted status at age 27! Players are going to be moving around like hotcakes. Very exciting!

- Age eligibility for unrestricted free agency at age 31 in 2005, 29 in 2006, 28 in 2007. In 2008, it's 27 or seven years of NHL tenure.

This also might mean Crosby won't stay very long with whoever drafts him.

So how can the players be happy with this deal??? They screwed the fans out of a season and got very little in return. Why did they have a change of heart? Was the original deal that the owners were trying to give to them way worse? I need to hear the players side. I guess after all this is over the only conclusion that I can come to is that I think Jeremy Roenick sucks for his comments and he should try doing my job and I will take his, maybe we can slide that into the agreement somewhere before it is ratified.

I think the best decision would have been to let the fans decide. We would looked out for both the owners and the players. Although I think that the owners were right and that the players were spoiled, I would have wanted a fair decision because I am a hockey player too. We would have done what is right for the game of hockey and not just for one side.

My last issue is whether Steve Yzerman is going to decide to come back and play or not. The best all around hockey play and leader of all time does not deserve to go out like he did.