After a 301-day NHL lockout, an eagerly anticipated draft lottery, a scaled-down NHL entry draft and a free agent frenzy of unprecedented proportions, we finally have an idea of what the new NHL landscape will look like.

The main "hockey" issue of the CBA standoff was equal access to the player pool for all teams. Regardless of what motivated that stand or what business issues had to be addressed to achieve it, this issue was number one for most NHL fans.

For years, teams like the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres were forced to send away their best players in exchange for prospects and draft picks. The financial structure of the league left small market clubs as little more than glorified farm teams.

If the system that expired during the summer of 2004 was renewed, or if something similar was put in place with the new agreement, we can be confident that teams like Colorado, Philadelphia, Toronto and Detroit would continue to dominate the standings. Clubs like the Oilers, Penguins and Sabres would remain as bottom feeders and, in the not too distant future, possibly cease to exist.

As we enter the "new" era of NHL hockey, most fans have an excitement level about the new season like never before. This feeling is in part, because we went a year without the NHL, but to a larger degree because of the new financial landscape.

Teams like the Oilers have added, at $6.25 million per season, Chris Pronger. Nashville has picked up Paul Kariya, Calgary was able to re-sign star forward Jarome Iginla and Tampa Bay inked Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis to long-term deals.

Perhaps the most radical changes of all have come in Pittsburgh where, in addition to winning the draft lottery and picking up potential superstar Sidney Crosby, the Penguins have been busy adding players like Sergei Gonchar, Zigmund Palffy and John LeClair. This is in sharp contrast to the player dumping that the Penguins have been forced to do over the past few seasons.

What this all means is that we have achieved a system of financial equality among the teams. No longer are the New York Rangers or Detroit Red Wings sitting in ambush to capture all significant free agents that come available each year. The $39 million cap has effectively forced those clubs to cut their payrolls in half, which has given new life to the small market teams.

With every NHL club working with the same number of dollars in their proverbial wallets, key free agents can end up in any NHL city. The haves and the have nots are now equals. The difference between winning and losing on the ice has come down to the intelligence of the general managers not the size of the market in which you play.

This new collective bargaining agreement is great for NHL hockey. With all teams in an environment where they can compete on the ice -- and make money off of it -- the league is much healthier as a whole.

The point of any professional sports league is to give all clubs equal tools with which to compete. When some teams have a distinct advantage over others in their pursuit of star players, the credibility of the league is damaged.

Fans don't want to cheer on a glorified farm team and they despise having their best players traded away for draft picks. With every team now able to attract and keep star players, new interest will be generated and that means more tickets will be sold.

Now that the players are effectively 'partners' in the business of hockey, it is a win-win situation for everybody when buildings are full.

The signing of this new CBA between the owners and the players will be historically recognized as a landmark deal that saved the NHL as we know it. The league was bleeding to death financially and the system had to be fixed.

This new CBA has repaired the financial woes of the NHL and will make the on-ice product much more entertaining. The unfortunate thing is that it took losing an entire season to right the ship. If you ask the fans of any small-market team, losing that season was well worth achieving financial parity with New York and Detroit.