The NHL Lockout is now over 70 days old and with no dates set for meetings, questions have begun to surface about alternative plans.
According to CSN, NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr has stated that decertification is a very possible strategy at this juncture. This would mean that the NHLPA would no longer represent the players and they would be able to file an antitrust lawsuit against the league.
Last year, the NFL found itself in a similar circumstance months before the season started and players decertified from the union. Negotiations went to court, but an agreement was eventually made. The NBPA did the same last November and an agreement was reached just two weeks later.
The Bleacher Report recently released two different article with opposing opinions on the issue of decertification. Nicholas Goss felt that the move would waste more time and could ultimately prove to be a waste if the court does not rule in favor of the NHLPA. More importantly, Goss notes that the court has often sided with the league and this could be a bad sign for the NHLPA.
His colleague Shawn Brubaker disagrees and thinks that it could be a viable option. The owners have more to lose as a battle in court could ultimately lead to the salary cap to be dissolved and a number of other changes in owner protected institutions. If the salary cap were dissolved and free agency had no limits, the owners would wind up losing a lot more money than under any CBA contract with the players. If the PA went to court, Brubaker asserts that the league would ultimately have more to lose and could cave in quickly to avoid facing legal action.
The owners currently have the upper hand as they turned down the more recent player negotiations and have commanded a great deal of the direction of the talks up until now. If the players want to regain control, decertification may be their only way to do so.
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