The National Hockey League is back and we’re excited, tentatively. You should be too. Just don’t let it ever, ever, ever happen again, NHL.

Hockey fans are resilient and the players are the most down-to-earth of athletes in the major professional sports. But the league has done us wrong. Three work stoppages in less than 20 years is simply too much. Two seasons shortened, one completely lost. The league and its teams need to recognize that and appreciate the fans who return while doing whatever it can to bring back those it lost.

Hockey has been mismanaged financially for years. The biggest blunder was that, after missing the entire 2004-05 season due to a lockout, the resulting collective bargaining agreement was so ill-conceived that it led to another work stoppage just seven years later, after salaries spiraled out of control in size and breadth.