The Messenger said:
Also to get to that point of Carter being declared a court would need to have ruled in his favour to grant him his freedom .
Who is to say that the court could not also rule that since Carter was drafted under an OLD CBA to avoid any further liability (anti-trust or other) cases on his part that he is eligible to be signed under the terms of the OLD CBA.
With higher entry level thesholds and bonus structures, particuarly if a new CBA in not even in place to know what the new levels will be, as courts will always base their rulings on fact (OLD CBA) and not fiction (New CBA -Work in progress).
Ahh Messenger, still holding out for that "hypothetical" court case.
As long as a lockout is ongoing it will be impossible to determine any damages - there will be none.
If there is no new CBA, it is theoretically possible that a court could rule Carter a UFA - but VERY unlikely. Besides if Carter wants to uphold one part of the CBA (draftee rights) it will be hard not to also uphold another - arbitration as the dispute mechanism to resolve CBA issues.
But in any case, any granting of free agency will be completely illusory. As soon as a new CBA is negotiated, Carter will be bound by it's terms, whether he likes it or not. Negotiated CBA terms are pretty bullet proof (largely immune to anti trust or other labour law challenges). If the new CBA says the Flyers still own his rights for some window, then they do.
A court cannot pick and choose between the two CBAs - if a new CBA says it supercedes the old, it does, and any current and future players are bound by it's terms.
Just being disadvantaged by a new CBA is no grounds to sue (OK, you can always sue, but they are no grounds to win). Did you see any lawsuits by 1994 draftees - drafted under a CBA that did not contain an ELS. Those that signed before the strike and new 1995 CBA were not subject to ELS, those that signed afterwards were.
Yes this mythical court challenge is always possible, and if a court ever says otherwise, I'll still owe you that case of beer.