The NHL is Put on Ice, Locks Out Once Again

You're asking yourself, "Haven't we been down this road before?" Yes.

The NHL joins the NFL and NBA as the third major sports league to put the chains on their doors.

Besides the big lockout in 2004, which shut down the NHL for an entire season, this is the fourth time since 1992 the NHL has locked out!

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gave his players notice earlier in the week that by midnight on Sunday morning, if they couldn't come to terms on finances, the league would shut down.

What reasons do the players and owners have for the lockout? About 3.3 billion of them.

The magic number of 3.3 billion is the amount at stake. The owners feel the need to decrease the amount of hockey-related revenue that goes to players. The NHL Players' Union wants its players to see at least $1.8 billion of that money.

Regardless of the players and the Players' Union's proposals, the owners wouldn't budge.

Individual team's training camps were set to begin next week, but that's not a possibility at this time. The first puck is expected to drop for the season on October 11th, but even that is in the air.

[Fox Sports]