NHL knows how to cut off one's nose to spite one's face

 

 The cancellation of the 2013 NHL Classic Game today, if that announcement is not reversal, makes no sense.  The value to the league and their sponsors of that game is beyond dollars and a lot of dollars are involved.  There are a lot of TVs tuned in to that game on New Years Day and with the involvement of two Original 6 teams, the audience would have been huge.  It's bigger than the Stanley Cup.

The NHL needs this kind of exposure.

But the NHL seems to be more interested in winning this dispute with the players and showing who is boss.  The economics of a shortened season or a cancelled season makes no sense in light of the amount of money separating the parties.

Unless this is just further posturing by the league to get a better deal from the players.