Philadelphia Flyers' star Jeremy Roenick thinks the NHL and its players are going to owe the fans big-time once the lockout is finally over. Roenick told Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun and ESPN.com that it was going to take some creativity to win fans back - especially in the United States.
"Because of all this, the owners and the players are going to have to find a way to give back to the fans, whether it's lower ticket prices, offering more packages, offering more TV exposure ... There has to be something so fans can say, 'This lockout was worth it because I got something out of it,'" Roenick said. "If we take the hockey the way it was during this period of time and keep it as is, it's going to be hard to get people back."
Roenick noted that owners and players had to start thinking about making and accepting concessions, before it's too late.
"My main message right now is the game is more important than egos. The players need to give back what I think has gotten out of hand, in terms of salaries," Roenick said. "Our game is great, our game is popular, but not popular enough to control $8, $9 or $10-million salaries going out.
"The owners maybe have to be open to the idea of revenue sharing. They want to have a partnership with the players. They need to have a partnership with themselves."
Roenick told Stevenson that the lockout was devastating for the game.
"(It's) not just the fact we're not playing, but the fact there's such tension between the two sides that a deal cannot be reached," Roenick said. "Especially after how far the players have come and what we've given up. We've given up the 24 percent. We've actually stuck our neck out to offer them cost certainty.
"We guaranteed it. If it did not do what we said it would do, and put a drag down on salaries after three years, we would go to their system and accept a salary cap," Roenick said. "Something that's equal for both sides.
"We believe, with the deal we offered them, salaries would decrease, would drag and would in turn, create that cost-certainty atmosphere for the owners to make more money. The salaries would not escalate as high. The average salary would probably drop a little bit, but still maintain a strong dollar for the second and third-line player and still your top players are still going to be able to make $5, $6 million, which is a lot of money these days."