NHL Lockout 2012 - News Update: League Names 36 Players in Lawsuit; No More 30 Team League After Lockout?

Day 93 of the NHL Lockout came to an end with no news on future negotiations and a great deal of disappointing news on the legal front.

The NHL has sued the NHLPA in an effort to verify the legality of its current lockout and to declare all player contracts void if the NHLPA disclaims or decertifies. A decertification asserts that the players no longer want the union to represent it while a disclaimer of interest occurs when the union chooses to terminate its right to represent its players. If either scenario were to occur, the players would likely file an anti-trust lawsuit against the league. The players started voting on the issue of union dissolution on Sunday. The voting will be open for five days and according to CBS Sports, the expectation is that the players will vote to be rid of union representation.

However the league's own lawsuit pre-empts the players' actions and essentially gives them an initial advantage in the legal battle. In its lawsuit, the league has actually mentioned the names of 36 different players. Those players include Craig Adams, Adrian Aucoin, Alex Auld, David Backes, Martin Biron, Brad Boyes, Chris Campoli, B.J. Crombeen, Mathieu Darche, Michael Del Zotto, Rick DiPietro, Shane Doan, Brandon Dubinsky, Mark Eaton, Ruslan Fedotenko, Alex Goligoski, Ron Hainsey, Scott Hartnell, Jaime Langenbrunner, Manny Malhotra, Ryan McDonoaugh, Steve Montador, Dominic Moore, Brendan Morrison, Douglas Murray, Cristobal Nieves, George Parros, Chris Phillips, Shane Prince, Cory Schneider, John Tavares, Shea Weber, Kevin Westgarth, Dan Winnik, James Wisniewski, and Henrik Zetterberg. All of these players have been active in negotiations, but even some other active players have been excluded from the list. The most notable exclusion is NHL Posterboy Sidney Crosby who has not only been present at many meetings between the two sides, but has also spoken out against the league. Lighthouse Hockey insinuates some bias from the league in this case as the NHL would be remiss to publicly attack its most bankable star.

Aside from the formal lawsuit, Pierre LeBrun of ESPN noted that the league might not return from the lockout with the same 30 teams. He notes that the toll of the lockout could potentially put small market teams out of business permanently. "And in a comment that I'm hearing more and more from people on the ownership side, I'm not sure the NHL returns with 30 teams on the other side of a lost season. Can the weaker markets truly survive this? That's damage both sides would feel," writes LeBrun.

Related Articles

NHL Lockout 2012-13: Fehr Shows Optimism; Sidney Crosby Expresses Disappointment 

NHL Lockout 2012 - News Update: League Sues NHLPA; Is the Season Over?