User:GhostRiver/lockout

The 2012–13 NHL lockout was a labor dispute between the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA)...

Resolution
After 16 hours of unbroken negotiations, the NHL and NHLPA came to a tentative agreement at 4:45a.m. on January 6, 2013, 113 days after the start of the lockout.

Player alternatives
With the lockout disrupting the regular NHL season, players who wanted to continue playing professional ice hockey sought alternatives. Many veteran players signed contracts with European leagues like the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) or Czech Extraliga, with contract stipulations that they would leave their European team when the NHL season resumed. Many younger players on two-way contracts with the NHL returned to their respective American Hockey League (AHL) teams, as the AHL was not experiencing lockout issues. Those who were still young enough for junior ice hockey eligibility were also free to return to their junior teams for the 2012–13 season. One organization that resisted offering short-term lockout contracts to NHL players was the Swedish Elitserien, who successfully argued before the Market Court that allowing NHL players to join Elitserien teams would interfere with the parity of competition in the league.

A number of players had negative experiences in other leagues that led them to terminate their short-term contracts before the lockout ended. Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, Tobias Enstrom, and David Clarkson all left EC Red Bull Salzburg of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga shortly into their contracts, citing "unprofessional management", with one player referring to the team as "a joke". Evander Kane, then with the Winnipeg Jets, left HC Dinamo Minsk after only 12 games, with club executive Igor Matuskin saying Kane "could not adapt" to the KHL. Both Wayne Simmonds and Chris Stewart left HC Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga after Simmonds was subjected to racial taunts at a game.

Older players, or players who had suffered injuries during the previous season, at times elected to stay home and rest rather than risk a season- or career-ending injury in an alternative league. While Sidney Crosby had some interest in joining a European league, his $104 million NHL contract, coupled with concussion difficulties during the previous two seasons, made it difficult for foreign clubs to insure him should he suffer another injury abroad. Washington Capitals defenseman Roman Hamrlik, meanwhile, who was 38 years old at the time the lockout went into effect, elected not to play for a team in his native Czech Republic, saying, "If I go play for my hometown team and I get injured and then they sign a deal here, I don't think that would be the best solution for me."