The NHL owners and players union may be recognizing their small market on professional sports in America could be on the verge of oblivion (and in turn won't be able to charge 6 bucks a beer and 4 for a hot dog at games)...
It looks like a 24-28 game season (plus playoffs) is very possible... http://www.thn.com/en/headlines/detail.asp?id=27358&cat=954945254360 (And hey the Bruins could possibly put a run together and take back the cup finally...)
The Lockout may even be a blessing in disguise... With as much attention being paid to the death of the 04-05 season... If they were somehow able to resurrect the season it may bring more viewers.
It's possible those who never thought of watching may tune in to see what all the fuss was about and wind up enjoying the frenetic fisticuffs nature of the sport.
Or maybe not: http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2005/02/18/Sports/cbc_rumours050218.html
The logistics may be a little hard considering most of the stars are playing for big bucks in small European and Russian towns: http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0%2C13005%2C901050124-1018024%2C00.html?cnn=yes
And hey even if the season does die you could pretend to be Ray Bourque at the fleet center: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4280221