Donald Fehr makes some pretty depressing comments in regards to future lockout.

As we are about to head into an incredible tournament put together by a joint effort between the National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players' Association, the NHLPA's president has indicated that there is still a long way to go before the two sides are on the same page.

During a lengthy interview with The Canadian Press Donald Fehr touched on several topics, but arguably the one of most interest when it comes to fans of the NHL was the conversation on future lockouts. When asked how the cycle of lockouts could be brought to an end, Fehr appeared to have no optimism whatsoever, stating that every negotiation in a salary capped league always led to conflict.

"The general sense I've had is that for a very long time now in all the salary-cap sports, every single one of them, there is a lockout in every single negotiation. The NFL even locked out its referees for God's sake. I mean, give me a break. Why do they do that? Because the way the agreements are structured (the owners) basically think they've got a free shot at the players. How do you break that?"

The only solution that seemed to be on his mind was the complete and total obliteration of the salary cap, something that he freely admits is a long way from happening at the NHL level.

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"Baseball is not a cap sport. It's the only one which does not have, over the last 20 years, a history of stoppages by lockout or by strike. It took the battle royale, 94/95 (MLB players strike during which Fehr was head of the union), to persuade the owners that they didn't fight over those issues anymore ... My advice to the players is given the history, when you go into negotiation, what you do is you hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

"The answer is the players make those decisions as you get there. And we're a long way from there."

Certainly not what fans of the sport want to hear.