Phil Kessel is a good example of why the NHLPA can never let this stand. He's a guy who's monumentally overweight for a pro player, but is skilled enough that teams don't care. But if the Lightning's standards hold, if his contract becomes a burden, instead of paying him guaranteed money or going through difficulty trying to trade him, the Pens could have just cut his contract. Via a team rule, a team could very easily create a pretext for other small issues to cancel other guaranteed contracts.
If what the Lightning did is left to stand, it's a very, very easy end run around guaranteed contracts, and the players accepted a lot of what they did in the various CBA battles because they still have guaranteed contracts. Regardless of what happens, they get paid for the full value. That is a HUGE thing for players. If owners devise a shortcut around it, that's not a small deal, and that's what the Lightning are effectively trying to do. They're trying to end guaranteed contracts, at least for their own team. It's utter BS. If you've followed my posts for any length of time (and I don't know why you would) you'd find that I'm almost always on the side of the owners in CBA battles. But I'm 100% with the players here- the CBA gives them guaranteed contracts. Yeah, Dotchin showing up out of shape is unprofessional. If the team wants to bench him, waive him down to the AHL or suspend him according to team rules, great. But they can't undermine the rule of guaranteed contracts by trying to not pay him.