All I Want for Christmas Is the NHL... To Die

More talking between owners and players, still the same lack of resolution. And I'm realizing that even if the NHL returns in the early months of 2013, the underlying problems with the League will go unaddressed and unresolved. It's a great sport played by great athletes who compete in a horrible, moronic, short-sighted League. The best thing for hockey is for the NHL to die, and a new League to replace it.

This new League should have a similar number of teams but in places where people actually care about hockey. Having 2 teams in Florida and only 1 in Quebec makes no sense. Having a team in Arizona and none in Wisconsin makes no sense.

This League should allow its players to play in the Russian Winter Olympics. Olympic hockey is the best free advertisement for the game, and it reaches a global audience.

This League should widen the ice to allow for a less cramped, better flowing game. The players are much bigger (and faster) than they were in 1924, the ice surface should also be bigger.

This League would have a luxury tax system along with a cap, so big market teams could spend a little more, but they'd have to pay the small market teams in order to do so.

This League wouldn't allow work stoppages every 5 years. Its owners and players would care more about the long-term success and prosperity of the League than short-term profits. There would be a commissioner independent of the owners, like Kenesaw Mountain Landis was when MLB appointed him Commissioner in 1920 after the White Sox threw the World Series. And that commissioner's sole interest would be the good of the game, not the wealth of the owners or players.

The NHL is an old, overgrown, decaying tree. It needs to be cut down and turned into mulch to clear the way for a vibrant new tree to grow.