If you are a reader of this blog, you know that I rarely four in everything it does. The billion dollar money machine continues to express new ways to bleed more money from fans, which is currently completely grotesque, so this will be one of those articles where I will surprise everyone by the NHL can be complained after releasing his statement about the five men involved in the five men in the 2018 Hockey Canada. It is also the point at which the NHLPA has shown its character with its explanation, and let’s say that no one should be surprised that the NHLPA took the horrible attitude they chose.
We start with the NHL’s statement who released the following statement on Friday after Thursday’s verdict in London:
Whatever you think about this case or to these players and the verdict that was transferred by Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia, this was the right call from the NHL. Yes, you read that correctly: the NHL has made the correct call with their statement.
These men are not innocent; They were not found guilty before. A “non -culprit” ruling of a judge by definition and by Canadian law means that the crown does not prove the fault of the suspect without reasonable doubt, which resulted in acquittal. Let them reformulate that the five men were in this case and were not innocent, because all five men were in the room and each committed some of the graphic acts in question. The judge’s judgment means that the crown failed in his attempt to prove undoubtedly that the men were guilty of those actions.
Just like the men involved in the Chicago Blackhawks scandal, these five men are not allowed to participate in the NHL or with one of his affiliated teams until there is a serious soul searching and work done by each of these men. Their lawyers can claim every detail that they like until they are blue in the face, but playing in the NHL is a privilege, not a right. With the actions that are described during the process that these men reportedly committed, the NHL has the right to refuse them access to their competition. Actions have consequences, right?
And that is where the NHLPA decided to play the lawyer for these five players by placing his metaphorical foot in his metaphorical mouth. Their explanation Read that the five players …,
Look, the NHLPA can mourn this, but every NHL contract contains a moral clause that actually says or a player “is concerned with criminal or inappropriate behavior”The team and/or the competition can punish a player because it considers suitable, including the termination of the player’s contract. The team and/or competition has this right to protect his image, standing and reputation in the case of the poor behavior of the player that causes negative impact on both entities.
The NHLPA will probably claim that none of these players is currently under contract, which means they are free agents who can look for work with any team (s), but, as I said above, playing in the NHL is a privilege, not a right. If the NHLPA wants to mourn this, they can, but the NHL can simply turn to any team that signs one of the five players and invoke the moral clause in that contract to re -suspend the player for the same reason.
In short, the players are damned if they do because they were doing badly.
It shocked me to see that the NHLPA came out with a daring statement as they made when it came to five players who have not played in the competition since 2022. I understand why they did it, but this should have been done quietly without being a big press release. The audience is already trying to beat how five men, plus a few others, can be in one room with an alleged intoxicated woman, record two consent videos after everything has gone and none of them still found guilty for sexual violence. For the record, I am still struggling with the outcome itself as heard The Hockey Show.
I know that the NHLPA does not care much about public opinion, so every negativity that is thrown to them does not make them important for them. In this case, however, it might be a better look to easily say: “The NHLPA works together with the NHL to determine the following steps for the five players mentioned in the process”. By keeping their company behind closed doors, the NHLPA does not look like a soulless entity without empathy for the victim.
Leave that for the defense lawyers, NHLPA. They were so good at it.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!