Manny Legace: NHLPA has failed the players, fans, everybody

Manny Legace, Red Wings player rep:

"The whole thing is a farce. We basically sat out for nothing, wasted a lot of money for nothing. It makes no sense to me...I wish we would have offered this deal last summer. Maybe (owners) would have been more generous. Maybe negotiations could have taken only two weeks, like the NBA (which recently signed a new collective bargaining agreement). They (union leaders) ticked off all the owners and (the owners) went out to screw the players. They had the right intention. They made everyone buy into what they told us. Now it seems like they're giving up everything just to start the season on time...If we're going to give up all this now, why wasn't the union smart enough to get a deal done sooner, instead of saying, 'Screw you,' (to the owners) the whole time? I lost $1.3 million. What was the purpose? We hurt businesses downtown, we hurt fans, we hurt everybody - for nothing. I feel bad for those people. I could understand if we were still sticking to a cause. What reason did we sit out for? It doesn't make sense...It's not just him (Goodenow), it's the whole (executive) committee."

If you can't tell who "lost" the lockout, just listen to the players in the coming weeks. They're starting to come out of the closet.