Personally, now that I think of it, this might be an attempt on the NHL to gain attention and shine light on the league and get more people involved. I agree with both Chupacabra and Undertaker, and I don't really care about the whole NHL deal, whether it does or does not come back (even though the Panthers arena is not that far from me), but all this drama from the NHL is really getting people in suspense over what will eventually happen to the whole thing.
As for this year, the season is over. There shouldn't really be any doubts. Too many games were missed, and it would be impossible to make up months' worth of games now. Next season though, I'm almost 100% sure that there will be a higher fan turnout than before due to the league's publicity this season.