$ Money, Money, Muhnayyyyyyy $

For those that haven't heard, MSG has released the pricing structure for playoff tickets. For my seats in Section 329, which are normally $46 a piece, they will go up to $75, $90, $125 and $200 in each of the four rounds of the playoffs. As I have two seats, should we get home advantage through the playoffs (which we won't), the total cost would be $3,925. That is about $500 cheaper than the cost of the entire regular season and preseason (which they force you to buy) ... that's 16 games for the about the price of 42.

There are some things to keep in mind: like Ranger reporter Sam Weinman said, you have to make the playoffs first and the way Hank has played recently, there is some question. But, as I said before, we won't have home ice so that's at least one game back per round, or $960. Three grand is an awful lot of money, but lets face it: its the playoffs in New York, of course its expensive.

Fans are crying out how insane the price jump is, but prices are even worse in Toronto for Maple Leaf fans where tickets are sky high for regular season games. Thankfully for them, they don't have to pay for the playoffs since their team never makes it anymore, so we can't compare second-season prices. People are also forgetting that tickets at the decrepit cesspool that is the Mausoleum are more expensive than the Garden at certain levels. That will of course change - probably around the time the new MSG opens - but by that time these inflated playoff prices will be cheap for even regular season tickets.

Ever since Bettman had owners lower prices coming out of the lockout, costs have dramatically gone up. I just am not shocked in the least since salaries are basically back to where they were before 2004 and are going ever higher, salary cap or not. For whatever lip service Bettman and the owners game to thanking the fans for their loyalty during the lockout, if you actually believed they cared about you or me then you are sadly mistaken. Just like the proprietors of any businesses, they care about the bottom line and would say whatever it took to keep us shelling out our money for their product. They made nice and it worked, people came back.

I just find it hard to believe the amount of outcry that I am hearing. How are Ranger fans crying foul now? How did they not see the writing on the wall when the insane long term deals were given to Gomez and Drury, not to mention the extension that was handed to Lundqvist last month? Dolan has to sign those paychecks and he sure as hell isn't going to dip into his trust fund to pay for them.

He doesn't care that the True Blue fans are kept away from the games. The type of person in the seat doesn't matter in the least as long as there is a person in the seat. He knows as well as you do that the diehards will do whatever they can, pay whatever they can to come to the games. And if they can't? This is New York, someone else will buy their ticket. There are eight million people in this city, plus tourists, and only 18,200 seats Dolan's minions can sell. He will continue to jack up the prices until those seats go empty, which likely won't happen anytime soon.

So what does it come down to? Suck it up. This is a case where the pessimist in me was proven right and I, for one, am not the least bit shocked to be proven right. What can you say? I mean, cest la vie - such is life. Businessmen care about making money, not making nice. You and I will keep paying as long as we can afford to. After we will just have to watch the games on tv and listen to Joe Michaletti every night.

Oh god ...