No go at Joe in Hockeytown, USA

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Paul Sakuma / the associated press archives Red Wings GM Ken Holland says he needs games to evaluate his players. (CP)

DETROIT -- Doors at Joe Louis Arena are locked, the Red Wings are scattered, and the forecast for hockey is dismal.

The 2012-13 NHL season was supposed to have its grand opening Thursday night. The Wings were supposed to start their redemptive path Friday by hosting the Nashville Predators at Joe Louis Arena. But none of that happened, because red tape has trumped red ribbon as the league and the NHL Players' Association feud over how to divide what last season was a $3.3-billion NHL pot.

"Everybody involved in the game is waiting for the CBA to ride its course," general manager Ken Holland said.

Owners locked out players Sept. 16, the day after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement that was forged during the previous labour dispute -- the one that eliminated the 2004-05 season. Players got routed in those negotiations and are incredulous that they're now expected to endure further austerity measures.

"They don't want to honour the contracts that we have now," Henrik Zetterberg said this past week, shortly before deciding he might as well go play in Switzerland for the duration of the lockout. "We are not ready to give up that. We believe that the deals that are already signed should be left alone and we should focus on what we can do in the future instead."

Zetterberg is among dozens of players who've lamented that from the NHLPA's perspective, talking to the league is like reasoning with a petulant toddler who doesn't understand the concept of compromise. "It's take it or leave it from their side," he said. "They don't want to talk if we don't give up a lot of concessions from deals that are already made."

This is the third time Gary Bettman has locked out players during his tenure as commissioner, a move that has earned him much enmity from players and fans. He answers to the owners and Bettman is running a business.

"It kind of feels like when they say 'no progress,' it means we're not giving them any rollbacks in our proposals, and until we do that, there's not going to be any progress made," defenceman Niklas Kronwall said.

The bleak outlook has prompted some Wings to find work elsewhere -- Pavel Datsyuk in Russia, Valtteri Filppula in Finland, Jakub Kindl in the Czech Republic. Others are trying to keep up their skating legs by practising in Troy, Mich., but that's getting boring.

While players are barred from the Joe, Holland is there in his office, left to wonder what the team he tinkered with during a five-month off-season might accomplish.

"We think that we like our goaltending and that with the development of some of the younger guys up front, we'll have a good competition for jobs there," he said. "When you lose a Nick Lidstrom and a Brad Stuart on defence, we're not sure what we've got on defence.

"Any time a superstar retires, there's going to be change. Nick was one of the best defencemen ever. People will wonder if the team can remain competitive.

"You never know what you've got till you play games."

-- Detroit Free Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 14, 2012 B12