Once the NHL is back in full swing, the team least likely to have any trouble bringing fans back will be the Edmonton Oilers. (Perry Nelson, Edmonton Sun file)
If this is it and the NHL lockout is likely to be over in a matter of days, the players back for a training camp next week and a 56-game schedule in place by Dec. 15, the first question will be whether the fans will come back.
Considering it’s the third NHL lockout of the Gary Bettman era, it might mean it’s also strike three for many fans around the 30-team league. They’ll have had enough with a league that has lost more games due to work stoppages than all the other major sports circuits combined.
But not here.
Not in Edmonton.
The last place in the league that will likely see fans walking away from the NHL when the game returns to the ice are Daryl Katz faithful following here.
Oh, owner Katz may currently be less popular in his own precinct than any of the other owners who met in New York Wednesday. But that’s more about his attempt to use the passion of the populace for his NHL team to squeeze as much out of the public purse as possible as he conti
