Didn't forget about them. Its just that there are so few. A lot of NHL teams don't have more than a couple players on contracts under 1m per year. Not regular NHL players, at least. Fringe depth depth players on two-way contracts who spend significant time in the AHL are often on deals less than $1m per year, but they really aren't regular NHL players. And even still, if they are on deals that only pay them $500k per year, two years in the NHL and they've made a million anyway.
Its not that I side with the owners. I just don't think either side in this are really deserving of fan support or empathy.