CHL settles class action lawsuit

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The Canadian Hockey League dropped some unexpected news on Friday afternoon.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman was first to report that the CHL had settled its long lasting class action lawsuit over minimum wage payment. The lawsuit had been going on since 2014 when the controversial (and bizarre) CHL Players Association popped up.

According to Friedman, "each CHL team will be responsible for paying approximately $250,000 in damages. Some clubs can handle that easier than others, but it is not an insignificant amount at a time when the COVID-19 shutdown is wreaking havoc on businesses worldwide."

As Friedman mentioned, $250,000 is not an insignificant amount of money for many - if not most - CHL clubs. Settling this now is likely better than continuing on with the lawsuit, but still... this is going to hurt some teams. The lawsuit was settled before the COVD-19 pandemic shut the league down, making the financial implications of this situation even worse.

The CHL issued a statement on Friday, saying that "this settlement does not mean that we agree with the plaintiffs. It means that we wanted to end the lawsuits so we could continue to focus on being the best development league in hockey.

"All Canadian provincial governments reviewed the issue of player status and clarified in their legislation that our players are amateur student athletes and not employees covered by minimum wage or employment laws. While this ended the issue going forward, the lawsuits continued to be a distraction and would continue to damage the financial position of our teams by costing millions of dollars in legal fees for 5 to 10 more years. Millions of dollars that would pay lawyers and add nothing to our player experience or the strength of our teams."

Notes: Sea Dogs' penalty kill has been perfect

While Saint John's less-than-hot power play has been a talking point this post-season, it's worth mentioning just how good their penalty kill has been.

Through six games, the Sea Dogs have not allowed a man advantage goal on 23 opportunities. That's quite impressive, even if Saint John hasn't faced the most offensively gifted teams so far in these playoffs.

The Sea Dogs have given up 10 goals in six games - the same amount as Charlottetown and Blainville-Boisbriand. The Islanders have allowed two power play goals on 29 chances (93.1% PK) while the Armada have given up three on 17 (82.4% PK).

Saint John had the league's best penalty kill during the regular season, so all of this isn't overly surprising. Still, running at 100% through six games is pretty good.

Game 3 of Saint John's second round series takes place on Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. in Val-d'Or.

Some notes...

• The Government of New Brunswick very quietly proposed changes to its regulations for amateur athletes last week. The CHLPA folks were not happy, as CBC reports.
• The Dallas Stars are looking for a new head coach - could that coach be Gerard Gallant?
• On that note, Sportsnet's Doug MacLean is still upset over the Florida Panthers letting Gallant go earlier this season. MacLean brought the subject up again on Sportsnet this weekend. Gallant's replacement, Tom Rowe, will not be back as head coach next season.
• International Scouting Services has ranked Sea Dogs prospect Shane Bowers 23rd for this year's NHL Draft. The Boston University commit now has 22 goals and 51 points in 60 games with the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks this year.
• Meanwhile, Bowers was ranked 31st by Future Considerations. Interestingly, Sea Dogs goaltender Alex D'Orio was ranked 80th.

Report: Lukas Walter Files Lawsuit

Lukas Walter has reportedly filed a $50-million lawsuit against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

According to TSN’s Rick Westhead, “Walter alleges that the league's teams conspired to rewrite standard player contracts last year to avoid paying players the legal minimum wage.”

Walter signed with the Sea Dogs early last September after two seasons in the WHL. In his overage season, the enforcer/fighter registered one assist and 141 penalty minutes. He was a healthy scratch on some nights.

According to the TSN report, “Walter is asking that the Quebec court certify his case as a class action lawsuit and award damages of $50 million.”

Elite Prospects does not list Walter playing anywhere this season.

Update: Walter has also filed a $60-million lawsuit against the WHL.

Notebook: Catching Up

If you've liked the photos you’ve seen on here this season, be sure to like Marc Henwood Photography on Facebook. He’s uploaded some unreal pics.

BURGERS

EXTRA EXTRA: Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers are now available @harbourstation concessions!! $4 gets you a burger, $4.25 and it gets cheesy!
— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SeaDogsHockey) October 12, 2014

A game-changing move. If you’ve tried one, we welcome reviews.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs play two home games this weekend, hosting the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Saturday at 7 p.m. and the Quebec Remparts on Sunday at 3 p.m. It is the only visit of the season to Saint John for both teams.

The Drakkar sit second in the East Division with a 9-4-0-1 record while the Remparts, this year’s Memorial Cup hosts, are third with an 8-5-0-0 record.

LEADERS

After this weekend’s bizarre set of games, Nathan Noel and Adam Marsh are tied for the team lead in points with 14 each. Noel has a team high eight goals while Thomas Chabot leads the team in assists with eight.

Chabot’s 11 points place him fourth in QMJHL defensemen scoring. Marsh's 14 points place him fifth amongst rookies.

STATEMENT

If you haven’t heard, the CHLPA is making some noise again. Here is the latest statement issued by the CHL and its league commissioners.

ON THE HOT LIST

Adam Marsh made The Hockey News' ‘Hot List’ last week.

“The Sea Dogs have been a big surprise early on, leading a very competitive Atlantic Division that includes Halifax and Cape Breton,” writes Ryan Kennedy. “Part of the reason for their success is Marsh, a free agent rookie from Chicago who has posted six goals and 11 points in his first nine games. The left winger goes to the dirty areas and has a wicked shot.”

Notebook: Mapping the QMJHL

Via the website Icethetics, here’s a map of the QMJHL. Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or are pretty much on another planet.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs have this weekend off from pre-season action but will return next weekend with a pair of games. Next Friday, Saint John hosts the Charlottetown Islanders at Harbour Station at 7:30 p.m. The two teams the meet at Eastlink Link the next night at 7:00 p.m.

Saint John is 2-1-0-1 in exhibition play and have outscored opponents 13-9.

The Sea Dogs begin the regular season on Friday, September 12 in Charlottetown.

TESSIER

Confirmed: Julien Tessier ( @JulTessier17 ) will be part of the roster for the Sea Dogs - Congrats and all the best this season!
— Kevin Chambers (@HPCanucklehead) August 27, 2014

Tessier was chosen by Saint John with the 15^th overall pick in this year’s QMJHL Entry Draft. The 16-year old forward has looked good in pre-season action, recording a goal and five shots in three games.

THE DRAFT

According to reports, next year’s QMJHL Entry Draft will be held in Sherbrooke. The Phoenix also hosted last year’s draft and was, apparently, quite successful.

UNION TALK

TSN’ Rick Westhead had a big time article on the possibility of a CHL players union becoming reality. He specifically mentioned former Sea Dog Nicholas Pard in his piece.

From the article:

Dias confirmed that some players in Quebec have been asked to sign union cards by Nicholas Pard, who played three seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs in Quebec's major junior league. It is unclear how many players signed union cards. Pard is now playing pro hockey in Europe, Dias said.

Pard has spent the past three seasons in France.

The Mess That Is The CHLPA

By Andrew McGilligan

SN Staff

You have no one to blame but yourselves.

If the people running the proposed Canadian Hockey League Players Association (CHLPA) want to know what went wrong in their attempt to unionize junior hockey players, they need to look no further than the mirror.

Missteps would be the polite way of putting it. A series of disasters, each more easily avoidable than the last is probably closer in approximation. The errors in judgement on the part of the CHLPA were such that Canadian Hockey League (CHL) commissioner David Branch probably didn’t need to get involved in squashing the proposed union (he did anyways).

All of this has detracted from the union’s goal of improving the education packages players receive as compensation for their time playing in one of the three leagues that compose the CHL.

So with its name sullied and its potential to get players unionized all but gone, what does the CHLPA do? It tries to highjack the Stanley Cup and award it to a CHL team based on an illogical format.

It’s unclear who advises the CHLPA in terms of its moves (the likely guess, given the bizarre moves, would be no one), but they should be relieved of their duties. If the CHLPA is serious about helping players and improving education packages, here are a few suggestions.

• Stay on topic: No more getting sidetracked with trying to award the Stanley Cup or any other trophy. The goal of the CHLPA is to improve education packages, so stick with that message. Do not get sidetracked with other foolishness such as feuds with people on twitter.
• Don’t just say it, show it: The CHLPA has stated it doesn’t believe the current rules surrounding education packages are fair. They cite problems such as the 12-18 month limit in accessing the education funds and the limiting of institutions in which the players can use the money. This is all well and good, but providing actual examples of how the current policies have failed players would dramatically strengthen the argument. Brett Morrison had some trouble with the QMJHL education packages which highlight concerns regarding trades of players and education requirements while playing in the league. This can all be found with a simple Google search. Morrison is one example, track down some more and you’ll have a strong case to present to current players and the public.
• Transparency: Obviously there have been some issues with who is behind the union, etc. Branch has effectively used the CHLPA’s secrecy to paint it as a shadowy organization and it worked. Your website needs to list everyone involved, their roles and how to contact them directly. The excuse of people working for the cause part-time is not good enough. By doing this, the CHL can no longer claim it doesn’t want to sit down for a meeting because it doesn’t know who the CHLPA is. Take away the stumbling block and it will either force the CHL to meet with you or explain why they don’t want to discuss issues relevant to improving a player’s experience.

This is just a short list, but the CHLPA has to make some drastic changes. If you want to be taken seriously, then act professionally, otherwise all the work done in pursuit of what appears to be a noble cause is wasted.

The CHLPA Is A Disaster

If you haven’t been following the CHLPA drama over the past week, you’ve really been missing out on some bizarre stuff.

The Globe and Mail is reporting tonight that the CHLPA’s executive director, Georges Laraque, “intends to leave the association as soon as a suitable replacement can be found.” This comes after days of speculation that a man working behind the scenes, "Derek Clarke," has been going under a fake identity or doesn’t even exist.

Long story short: the CHLPA is a disaster and appears to be on the brink of collapse.

Some links to explain things further:

• The Globe and Mail - Laraque leaves as junior-hockey union drive on brink of collapse
• Yahoo! Sports - CHLPA a tale of multiple identities?
• Metro News - CHLPA spokesman fights rumours about identity
• Calgary Herald - CHLPA's attempt at certification hits snag as its law firm ceases involvement with the association
• Josh Brown of the Kitchener Record nailed it on Twitter: “If the CHL is smart, it will still address some of the legit concerns the CHLPA had (education packages).”

The Globe and Mail also reports that Laraque is currently is Sydney where he will meet with Screaming Eagles players Friday. The Sea Dogs play the Eagles later that night. This should be fun.

Sea Dogs Notebook

IT’S ALMOST HERE

Only one more sleep until opening night in the Canadian Hockey League.

The Saint John Sea Dogs will host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the lone game in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. It’s Banner Night at Harbour Station with the team sending its 2012 President Cup banner into the rafters. Game time is 7pm. Tickets are listed as “good” on the Harbour Station website.

Every team in the QMJHL plays on Friday night.

CBC STUFF

CBC Radio Yukon’s show “Airplay” has, according to this post on their website, adopted the Sea Dogs as their junior team for the winter. The Sea Dogs’ Mark Gamble explains the very basics of the team and the league in an interview posted here.

CHLPA

The CHLPA continues to be bizarre. They’ve been operational for a little while now yet it is still a mystery and they don’t seem too interested in giving the public – or anybody, for that matter – any clues.

In a post at The Pipeline Show, Guy Flaming details his adventure in trying to land an interview with someone from the CHLPA. It didn’t happen. The most disturbing thing from the post is a text they received from an agent.

"Wow, a CHLPA guy walks in on team unannounced as they're having dinner after a game tonight. Introduces himself by saying 'Hi, I'm Jake but please call me John'. Handed these guys a sheet asking them all to sign. No info, no details... nothing. YIKES!! Left guys more confused.”

Yikes. No clue what is going on with this thing.

PENS

Hockey’s Future calls Simon Despres the best pro prospect in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.

“On most other teams Despres would be fast-tracked to the NHL, as he has little left to prove in the minors,” writes Ian Altenbaugh. “However, because Pittsburgh is fairly deep with mobile defensemen, he would have spent most of 2012-13 in the AHL regardless of a lockout.”

Former Sea Dogs captain Alex Grant was named the best pro unsigned prospect in the Pens system. Grant is not signed for the 2013-14 campaign yet.

On The CHLPA And Education

By Andrew McGilligan

SN Staff

The saga surrounding the proposed Canadian Hockey League Players Association has been anything but boring.

From former enforcers heading up the potential union to players seemingly in the dark to owners and league executives deriding its formation (the QMJHL issued a bizarre press release in which the league was referred to as a SCHOOL OF LIFE - all caps was used in the release - aimed at dispelling rumours and half-truths), it’s a weird time to be a fan of junior hockey.

While many have taken aim at the CHLPA’s tactics and questionable math, the proposed union did bring up a topic that bears more discussion: the time limit placed on players accessing education packages.  Once the major topic of discussion regarding the proposed CHLPA, the time limit issue has been forced into the background by the slings and arrows of the defenders and detractors of the potential players union.

However, it’s an important topic that needs to be looked at outside of the confines of the union debate. Simply look at the situation regarding the education package time limit. I consider the education package as the player’s compensation for playing for his junior team. I know players get a stipend per week, but its peanuts and the real payment is the paid education.

If a player does not access these funds within a certain time frame, less than two years from playing in one of the CHL leagues (QMJHL, OHL, WHL), they lose the funding. In my opinion, they are essentially denied their wages.

Put it this way, if you go to work for a company you’re not doing so for free. The company agrees to pay you a salary for your work because that company is attempting to make a profit from your labour. If you leave that company, you don’t have to give back the wages you’ve earned.

No time limit should be placed on players to access the funds. The money should be set aside for when the players decide to use it. Some may never access it and other may do so ten years after playing in the junior ranks. The point is they’ve earned it and the leagues and teams should abide by it.

The CHL and the leagues that comprise it often talk about the high value placed in education in their system. It’s admirable that the league and teams want players to succeed on the ice a well as in the classroom. We’ve seen the commercials where past players talk about how their time in the CHL helped prepare them for careers after hockey and receiving their education is big part of that equation.

Union or no, the time limit issue needs to be addressed by the CHL. As the QMJHL calls itself the SCHOOL OF LIFE, why don’t they lead the charge and show players that honouring commitments is a lesson worth learning.

Busy Night For The CHLPA Twitter

On a Sunday night during the Labour Day long weekend, the CHLPA decided to take to Twitter and post estimated revenue numbers that each Canadian Hockey League team generated during the 2011-12 season.

The CHLPA tweeted several times that the numbers were ticket sales alone and did not include pre-season or playoff sales.

Here’s what they posted for Saint John’s ticket revenue.

Saint John est tickets sold for 2011/12 = 155,060 with est revenue of $2,465,454.00 . Just in ticket sales alone

— CHLPA (@theCHLPA) September 3, 2012

Nobody is quite sure how they determined the revenue estimates, but as Luber’s Lounge notes, there seems to be some issues with some estimates. No surprise there. It's hard to say how accurate the PA's estimates are.

Buzzing The Net has ranked all 60 teams and the league averages based on the CHLPA's numbers. The CHLPA has the Calgary Hitmen bringing in the most ticket revenue with $10,485,862 while the Val-d’Or Foreurs are at the bottom with $470,184.

The QMJHL average was $1,748,107.94. The CHL average was $2,719,177.38.

So, the CHLPA says that CHL teams make a lot of money off ticket sales. Cool. But how much profit these teams are making is the big question.

Catching Up

Catching up on some stuff that has gone down over the past 24 hours…

NEW NAME
The PEI Rocket announced yesterday that they are finally renaming their team. Fans have been asking for this for years and as the team said in its release, “a name change was desired due to the lack of connection or identity with the name ‘Rocket.’” Fans are being asked to name the club. Submissions can be made here until September 5. Fans will then be asked to vote on one of the three most submitted names.

The new name of the team will be announced at the Rocket’s home opener on September 21. The name change will be made for the 2013-14 season.

We’re hoping they incorporate the PEI dirt colour into the logo/jersey. Also wouldn’t mind if the name was potato related because potatoes are awesome.

FIRING BACK
The CHL and the QMJHL released statements on the Canadian Hockey League Players Association saga yesterday. Check them out here and here.

The Q’s release featured the statement “the QMJHL is a SCHOOL OF LIFE.” Not sure why they are yelling that school of life part.

CHLPA STUFF
Some stuff on the CHLPA to read:

• Buzzing The Net: CHLPA’s promise of windfall for junior players overlooks some obvious facts
• Sportsnet: CHLPA Taking a Beating
• The Hockey News: CHLPA a long time coming for junior players

If you missed Wednesday’s Telegraph-Journal, Sea Dogs majority owner and CEO Scott McCain had this to say about the CHLPA.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of it but I’m dead set against it,” he said. “It would not be good for the league.”

The players seem to be, for the most, still in the dark about this players association. Will be interesting to see how this moves forward.