Interesting round table discussion last night on the FAN590 - to make a long story short - asked the question, what alternatives do both parties have if they don't find a resolution; answer:
Owners - wait it out, bust the union and start another league - they have the infrastructure and the arenas.
Players - play somewhere else for a lot less money - basically what 400+ of them are doing now.
The third answer is the dark horse - if the NHL lockout goes on for too long, there might be the time and interest in Europe to create a new league there, comparable to the NHL with payscales close enough to be interesting - especially to those players originally from Europe.
Given the grass-roots popularity of the game over there (say, compared to Southern U.S.) - this might not be far-fetched an idea.
