hockey's business and legal

Hockey’s Business And Legal Highlights November 16 Through December 15 Including Lucic Troubles

Alec Roberson

It’s that time of the month when we take a look at what’s been happening in hockey’s business and legal world. Twice a month we cover the big and not so big stories in this arena. Due to some time away this period will cover a full month however. We also include a featured story of the period. Let’s take a look at what has been happening this period.

Hockey’s Business and Legal News

Hockey Canada’s Chair of the Board Stepping Aside

Hugh Fraser announced that he will not be seeking re-election as Hockey Canada’s chair of the board. Fraser, a retired judge, came in on the transition board following Hockey Canada’s issues regarding the handling of sexual assault claims and payouts came to light. While Fraser has helped Hockey Canada make strides to becoming a safer and better organization, Fraser feels it’s time to pass the reins while he pursues other opportunities in safe sport. While the findings of the sexual assault issues involving the 2018 Canadian World Junior team are still under appeal, Fraser feels Hockey Canada is better off financially and more transparent in its dealings.

New Board Elected for Hockey Canada

In addition to Fraser stepping down, Hockey Canada’s 13 members elected a new group of volunteer board members. The new directors include Gillian Apps, Amanda Fowler, Corey Hirsch, Kristi Miller, Krista Outhwaite and Geoffrey Wong. They will join Grant Borbridge, Jonathan Goldbloom and Marian Jacko who were re-elected after serving on the organization’s transition board of directors. The Board then elected Goldbloom as its chair for a three-year term. Goldbloom was on the executive committee for the inaugural Beyond the Boards Summit and led Hockey Canada’s most recent president and chief executive officer search committee. Hockey Canada continues to transition through it’s recent issues and hopefully can become a better organization under this leadership.

The PWHL Will Operate as a Single Company without a Commissioner

The newly formed women’s PWHL will not be seeking a commissioner anytime soon per advisory board member Stan Kasten. While typically professional sports leagues have a commissioner, the PWHL will operate differently. The NHL for example operates more like a joint venture comprised of the various owners of the teams. They then name a commissioner to oversee the league. For the PWHL, they will operate as a single company with one owner instead. Just like most other corporations, there will be leaderhip, but not in the form of a commissioner that acts to balance the interests of the various team owners. For the PWHL, there are not individual owners and one team will not profit at the expense of another. This could change of course, but for now here we are.

NHL and NHLPA Working on International Tournament

While it won’t be the World Cup of Hockey, the NHL and NHLPA in are in discussions regarding a four team international tournament aiming for February of 2025. The tournament reportedly will include Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. Due to issues with the situation in Ukraine affecting Swedish and Finnish player participation in particular, Russia likely won’t be included. Because international play has to be agreed upon by the NHL and NHLPA per the CBA, the NHLPA has a responsibility to vouch for the interests of all NHL players. This puts them in a tricky situation when it comes to the Russian players. Or any others excluded.

Keep an eye on this as it moves further in negotiations. While this will likely be an NHL only event, negotiations continue to progress regarding Olympic participation with the IOC and IIHF as well. The goal is to alternate every two years with a World Cup of Hockey and Olympics.

Players Entering the NHLPA Player Assistance Program

Two players have entered the NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Milan Lucic entered the program following domestic abuse allegations from his wife that allegedly involved alcohol (discussed below). Likewise, Samuel Girard of the Colorado Avalanche has entered the program. Girard reportedly suffered from mental health issues including anxiety that lead to alcohol abuse. The player assistance program is there for players in circumstances such as these. The player may continue to be paid while in the program with the goal being to return to the team. Lucic’s situation is a little different due to the involvement of court hearings but hopefully the program will pay dividends for both players.

Corey Perry and the Blackhawks Split Following Unkown Unacceptable Conduct

The Chicago Blackhawks signed Corey Perry in the offseason to bring in a veteran presence as a mentor to Connor Bedard. However, before halfway through the season the Blackhawks have terminated Perry’s contract due to “unacceptable behavior.” While the specific actions have been kept fairly quiet, they supposedly rose to the level of violating the Standard Players Contract and the Blackhawks internal policies. In accordance with the CBA, the Blackhawks put Perry on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. After that, they terminated the contract. This is only allowed if the actions violate the Standard Players Contract or both sides mutually agree to terminate the agreement. It will be interesting to see if anything more gets released on this.

Dan Near Named Next WHL Commissioner

The WHL announced that former Addidas executive Don Near will be taking over as Commissioner. Near will come in and replace Ron Robison who has served in that role since 2000 and will continue to serve the WHL in an advisory role. Near’s appointment will be effective January 1, 2024, with him taking on full responsibilities on February 15, 2024. Near also previously worked in marketing for the NHL.

Hockey Canada Release Report on 2022-23 Maltreatment Complaints

Hockey Canada released its report covering complaints received and processed by its newly created independent third party (ITP). The ITP is run by Ottawa-area lawyers Brian Ward and Jahmiah Ferdinand and receives the most serious abuse complaints and redirects the remaining complaints to Hockey Canada members which include provincial and territorial federations. The report provided that 35.3 percent of complaints to the ITP were for bullying and harassment, 34.1 per cent were for discrimination, and five per cent were for sexual maltreatment. Unlike other national and provincial sports federations, neither Hockey Canada nor its provincial members make public the names of people suspended or banned for misconduct.

IIHF Makes Neck Guards Mandatory for World Junior Championships

As we have discussed in previous hockey’s business and legal updates, everyone has given increased awareness and attention given to neck protection following the unfortunate death of Adam Johnson. The latest organization to make the move to require neck guards is the IIHF. They announced a requirement for players in the World Junior Championship (starting December 26) and the Men’s Under 18 Championship to wear neck guards. The IIHF has not made an announcement on the Men’s or Women’s World Championships yet. We previously took a deeper look at the question of requiring neck guards here.

University of Delaware to Add NCAA Division I Women’s Hockey

The University of Delaware will become the 45th member of NCAA Division I Women’s Hockey and begin play in the 2025-26 season. The coaching search will begin at the start of 2024 with a full year for recruitment to build the team. The creation of the team came as a move by the University to remain Title IX compliant. At a very high level, Title IX requires Universities to maintain equal opportunities in sports for men and women.

But this decision comes involving both hockey’s business and legal sides. Delaware has had an ACHA team for many years but with the growth of women’s hockey both internationally and through the newly created PWHL, this seemed like a natural addition. Creating a new Division I hockey program is not easy as we previously discussed when Long Island University added a Men’s Division I program. But this will be a good addition for women’s hockey.

NHLPA Supports New Bill Allowing for Collegiate Compensation

Multiple Senators have re-introduced a bill in Congress that would allow for collegiate athletes to form labor unions and collectively bargain under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if they receive direct compensation from the school. This would change the employment landscape for collegiate athletes as they would be considered employees under the NLRA. But maybe more noteworthy, for the first time ever, the unions from all of the major sports, including the NHLPA, have endorsed this bill. With all of the increases in NIL opportunities, collegiate compensation has been a topic at the forefront for a while now. If passed, this bill would be another step forward in the employment battle.

As we mentioned in a previous article covering NIL considerations for college hockey, the availability of NIL could change the hockey landscape as more players would opt for the NCAA route over the CHL since they can make money. If collegiate athletes become employees, you may see that even more considering the CHL already lost that battle in Canada.

NHL Salary Cap Expected to Increase Five Percent

The NHL announced that next year’s salary cap will jump up 5% to $87.7 million. This $4.2 million jump is seemingly due to increases in valuations and revenues (discussed in our last hockey’s business and legal updates) and the payoff of COVID related debt owed to the owners from the players. With inflation continuing to rise this will be a welcome sight for most teams after facing a few years of almost flat cap growth.

Announcement of Future of Sport Commission in Canada and Changing Sentiment on Publicity of Sanctions in Canada

Canadian Minister of Sport Carla Qualtrough announced an 18-month “Future of Sport in Canada Commission” that will explore ways to make amateur sports safer in the country. While this organization will take on many tasks affecting both hockey’s business and legal sides as well as moral, one area that could be reviewed is the publicity of sanctions related to abuse in sports.

Canada’s federal privacy laws are stricter than those in the U.S. so organizations may leave themselves exposed to lawsuits from people whose sanctions are made public. This is at least partially why Hockey Canada has not made any sanctions or punishments public yet. There is also the protection of people in power that has plagued the sport for years. With that said, more national and provincial sport organizations have committed to transparency when it comes to discipline. In hockey, the Greater Toronto Hockey League has been making some strides in increasing transparency with sanctions, but we will see how far that goes.

QMJHL Changes the “M”

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, will now be known as the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (la Ligue de hockey junior Maritimes Québec in French). As one of hockey’s top junior leagues, this is a business decision with legal intricacies. This change came in the form of a unanimous resolution by the QMJHL’s Assembly of Members. Including Maritimes in the name recognizes the six current Maritime region teams in the league and their almost 30 years of impact. Newly appointed Commissioner Mario Cecchini made this a focus since he took over in May. This update also includes a new English logo. While the change seems simple, the league will need to update all documentation, website information, marketing and importantly trademarks and related intellectual property. The QMJHL likely has done this or it is in process.

Temporary Prohibition on Two-Time Transfers in NCAA

A federal district court in West Virginia issued a ruling temporarily prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its “two-time transfer” rules. These rules provide that if a NCAA player transfers programs twice (or more) they must sit out one year. Seven states’ attorney generals brought this lawsuit (State of Ohio et al v. NCAA) alleging that rule violates anti-trust laws. While the ruling technically only applies to the district the decision was issued in, the NCAA agreed to temporarily suspend the rule as well as any penalties related to players acting under the temporary suspension should the rule get reinstated. The next hearing on this for a permanent injunction of the rules will be on December 27.

Washington Capitals Looking at Moving

As somewhat of a surprise to many, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis announced the team and the NBA’s Washington Wizards would be moving to Alexandria, Virginia in the near future. This announcement came shortly after Virginia lawmakers announced the building of a new sports and multi-use complex in Alexandria. A very rough time frame for the move looks at 2028.

But this is not a certainty yet. For years, Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. has been needing some updates. With Leonsis pumping his own money into the arena he may be announcing this move in attempt to play politics. Shortly after this announcement, the Mayor of D.C. announced that the district would put up $500 million towards an $800 million renovation to the arena if the Capitals and Wizards stay. Of course, this brings back the question, “Should taxpayers pay for sports arenas?” This will be an interesting one to watch moving forward as it affects hockey’s business and legal sides.

Bill Guerin Investigated for Verbal Abuse

Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin was reportedly investigated for allegations of verbal abuse in the workplace. These incidents purportedly occurred in November and the Minnesota Wild retained outside assistance to handle the investigation. The conclusion found no wrongdoing or violation of team policies. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly provided that the NHL was aware of the investigation and was satisfied with its handling and results. Not much has been provided regarding any specifics of the incident.

Hockey’s Business and Legal Updates Featured Story: Milan Lucic Leaves Bruins following Domestic Abuse Allegations

Milan Lucic made a somewhat sentimental return to the Boston Bruins this offseason. Even though Lucic is not the same player he was, Bruins fans generally hold the power forward in high regards. However, for our hockey’s business and legal updates featured story, it was revealed that Lucic would be taking an indefinite leave of absence following allegations of domestic abuse.

He was arraigned in Boston after allegedly hitting his wife and pulling her hair. Lucic plead not guilty in the matter and was released pending a hearing. If found guilty, he could face up to two and a half years in prison. A pretrial hearing is set for January 19, 2024. While again he is innocent until proven guilty, this may turn to be an unfortunate ending to what could have been a storybook ending to Lucic’s career. As he is rounding out his NHL days, finishing in Boston would seem only fitting. The Bruins don’t likely see losing Lucic as a major problem. But this puts a huge blemish on the end of his career. Whatever the outcome, hopefully the Lucic family can find peace through it as it makes its way through the legal system.

Post image attribution: Lisa Gansky, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alec Roberson

Alec Roberson grew up in coastal North Carolina, taking a somewhat unconventional path to hockey. With hockey being almost nonexistent in that area, Alec found his passion for the game following the success of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2001 and 2006 and later played club hockey in college. After going through law school and practicing for some time, he now continues his love for the game through writing. Find him on twitter @roberson_alec

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