Following the cancellation of the first two weeks of the NHL's regular season, San Jose Sharks defenceman Dan Boyle said he thinks not all 30 NHL owners are on the same page when it comes to locking out the players.
Boyle told CSN Bay Area he thinks the lockout is being controlled by a select group of owners and commissioner Gary Bettman and that the majority of owners are looking to get a deal done.
"It doesn't make any sense to me that eight teams can control the fate of 22 other ones," Boyle told CSN Bay Area. "I think when players make comments, sometimes it's directed towards 30 owners, but I think a lot of us feel that it's not across the board. It's a certain group of teams that are controlling 30 others."
Boyle believes the fact the NHL requires just eight owner votes to veto any proposals from the players allows a certain group of owners to control the process.
He said the players are willing to provide concessions and thinks the majority of owners would be willing to negotiate, but a select group of owners and commissioner Gary Bettman will not allow a deal to happen at this point.
"I don't see anything happening for the next couple months," he said. "I know that's very pessimistic of me, and I really hope I'm wrong. But the eight guys…what if there's 22 teams out there that want to play right now? How do eight teams control their fate? That bothers me the most."
Boyle said the players would give back, but doesn't think the owners are willing to do the same until regular season games and paychecks are lost.
"I think we have to give back. There are a lot of things that we need to fix, and we want to give back," he said. "I don't think they're serious about doing anything until we start missing some checks."
