There is no doubt that the NHL will open its schedule of preseason games on September 21. One thing that is not certain is who will be officiating the nine games scheduled for that date.
Reports have surfaced that the NHL and the union representing the leagues on-ice officials, the NHL Officials’ Association, have been without a contract since August 31.
With the season approaching and no contract in place the NHL seems to be putting a contingency plan in place. They have reached out to officials from the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League to gauge if they would be interested in being replacement officials should an impasse be reached in the negotiations.
The fact that the NHL has contacted minor league officials could be looked at in one of two ways. First, the NHL is preparing for a worst-case scenario, where an agreement is not signed and they are lining up officials so no games are affected. The second scenario is that the NHL is using the threat of replacement officials as a negotiating tactic.
The NHL has used replacement officials in the past. In November 1993, the NHLOA elected to go on strike. The u ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Trent Reinsmith
NHL Reaching Out to Possible Replacement Referees and Linesman
September 11th, 2010 by Trent Reinsmith Leave a reply »
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