Tom_Benjamin
Registered User
The Iconoclast said:1) Break the union. Come fall they bring in replacement players and pay them what they like. They can make an offer to anyone from the NHLPA that they can come and play, earn a fair salary, and wait as the journeymen come back, which is the majority of the union. The ultra expensive players can stay out, or go play in Europe, but the game will go on without them.
How do they do this? The players aren't on strike. They are locked out. You can't have a lockout and use replacements.
Fold the league and start over. Call it NHL2 or what wever you want, the league could cut their losses, pack it in and start all over. Draft players, rename franchises, the whole nine yards. At that point they can institute their own rules and players will be free to come back to work and earn a fair wage. There is no players association and the league could easily make itself a union free zone, or a right to work industry.
No they can't. Without a Union and a CBA any efforts by the owners to institute rules collectively is a violation of the anti-trust laws.
Tom