Malhotra: Players would be “on vacation somewhere stuffing our faces” if they didn’t want to play

Manny Malhotra is like most other players affected by the lockout. He’s upset with the owners and he just wants to get out there and play hockey.

As he tells Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun, he’d have other plans if he wasn’t serious about getting back on the ice and getting a new CBA worked out with the owners.

“If we had no desire to get back to the games, we’d be on vacation somewhere stuffing our faces rather than skating and working out every day,” he stated. “To say that guys don’t want to negotiate and get things done would be a wrong statement.”

The players’ resolve hasn’t been questioned at all through this process. If you’re on Twitter and following any of the players, you know they’re involved in the process even to the point of annoyance.

Add to that the number of players who headed overseas to play as well as CBC’s Elliotte Friedman report saying the players want Donald and Steve Fehr to negotiate with the owners more.

Putting that much more effort into the process might be one of the few things to help get a deal done sooner than possible.