NHL mess worse by Gretzky, Lemieux debacle

With Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux inside the NHL labor mess, a terrible situation became a Great debacle instead of a Super save.

The sport's biggest stars came up short at the bargaining table on Saturday, and the season was wrecked twice and for all.

It was first wiped out Wednesday, killed off when commissioner Gary Bettman said the differences over a salary cap between the league and the players' association wouldn't allow for hockey until at least the fall.

But neither side was really ready to let the season go.

Enter the Great Gretzky of Phoenix, and Pittsburgh's Super Mario.

Three days after hockey armageddon, there was suddenly new life and new hope that the season could be saved. There was no way these guys would fail, right?

But they did.

And they never really had a chance.

When Gretzky and Lemieux got to the table Saturday, it became clear quickly that rumors of a done deal were false, and an agreement was not on the radar screen.

If there was a shot at a deal with a $45 million salary cap, we'll never know. The discussion over a number never came up.

This time, the news hit doubly hard. How was it possible that the worst possible scenario took a steeper turn downward in the same week?

The NHL has the black eye of being the first major North American sports league to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.

It became clear during the past year how far apart the sides were.

The hard part was already overcome Monday, when the NHL dropped its demand for a link between league revenues and player costs, and the union said it would then accept a salary cap.

Bettman left the door open for an agreement more than once during his end-of-the-season news conference. He said he wouldn't mind the embarrassment of a second announcement hours later that a deal had been reached.

The cap was always the issue, even after it was accepted by the players. The debate of hard cap vs. soft cap was never resolved, nor was how the limit would fluctuate over the course of the six-year deal. What was just a $6.5 million cap gap suddenly was became an unbridgeable ocean of difference.

And don't expect any negotiations anytime soon.

It would benefit the league greatly if a deal could be reached in time to hold the June draft and to begin a marketing blitz for the NHL's relaunch next season. But the incentive for players to make a deal now is gone. They aren't due to be paid again until October.

So the hockey calendar looks like this: a board of governors meeting and a players powwow within the next few weeks and maybe a court battle during the summer.

There is no hope anymore for this season. As for next season, that's anyone's guess.