A Friday evening press release from the NHL? What could it be?
Yeah, no biggie – except that whole realignment plan is off because the NHLPA refused to provide its consent.
“It is unfortunate that the NHLPA has unreasonably refused to approve a plan that an overwhelming majority of our clubs voted to support, and that has received such widespread support from our fans and other members of the hockey community, including players,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “We have now spent the better part of four weeks attempting to satisfy the NHLPA’s purported concerns with the plan with no success. Because we have already been forced to delay, and as a result are already late in beginning the process of preparing next season’s schedule, we have no choice but to abandon our intention to implement the realignment plan and modified playoff format for next season.”
“We believe the union acted unreasonably in violation of the league’s rights. We intend to evaluate all of our available legal options and to pursue adequate remedies, as appropriate.”
Note that Daly used the word “unreasonably” twice. That’s because the CBA reportedly says the NHLPA can’t unreasonably withhold consent to the realignment plan.
So...some questions to ask going forward:
Why is the union withholding consent? (Update: because of extra travel and playoff structure.)
Is the union being reasonable or unreasonable?
Who decides if the union’s being reasonable or unreasonable?
Is this all just posturing ahead of the upcoming CBA negotiations?
Why am I always wrong?
Related:
Realignment on hold — NHLPA concerned with travel and playoff structure
Minnesota owner “disappointed” with rejected realignment