The Puck Stops Here

The NHL and NHLPA meet today for the first time in a couple weeks. Naturally, the logical thing is for the NHL to file a complaint with the United States National Labor Releations Board before the meeting. Information about this can be found here. How can that possibly be considered bargaining in good faith?

This is actually the second complaint the NHL has filed. Information on the first one can be found here.

The NHL is complaining about "apparant policies" of what it thinks the NHLPA might do if the NHL tries to bring in replacement players this fall. The NHL seems to have already committed to that action and doesn't even bother to listen to what the NHLPA says in their meetings before complaining about what the NHLPA might do in a few months. Todays complaint is that the NHLPA might try to decertify agents who negotiate contracts for replacement players. Its not obvious that either NHL complaint actually holds water. The NLRB might rule against either of them. It is clear that the NHLPA has not yet done either of the things the NHL has complained about since there are no replacement players yet.

The worst part is that it appears that the NHL has decided to go ahead with replacement players regardless of what happens between now and then, which means they have already decided that the next 6 months or so of negotiations will be unproductive. Its going to get a lot worse before it starts to get better.