As a former season ticket holder, from day one, here's my two cents.

The owners and Bettman have equal shares of blame for the current situation.

The owners are the ones who can't keep their free spending element in check. As much as they like to blame Bettman, they are their own worst enemy. Had they been able agree on some kind of decent revenue sharing arrangement like the NFL then there wouldn't be the mess that resulted in the last strike.