Several NHL players are disappointed in the way the National Hockey League presented the latest definition of hockey related revenue (HRR) during talks this week.
"Basically, they changed the definition, where there would be no accountability in terms of HRR accounting," Senators team representative Chris Phillips told The Ottawa Sun on Friday. "So they could basically give us whatever number they wanted to.
"It's great that we're at 50-50 now, but 50-50 of what? That's just ridiculous. We're trying to get a deal done, and negotiate in good faith and they pull garbage like that. That's not going to get anything done."
Montreal Canadiens NHLPA representative Josh Gorges was equally critical.
"I don't know if it's a step back," he said. "It kind of shows us and everybody the mentality that they have in these negotiations and the mentality that they've had in this whole process. Trying to slide something in there on us like that, it's a pretty sneaky move.
"It doesn't do anything to benefit the process. It's hard to negotiate when someone is trying to do something like that."
Gorges's teammate Brian Gionta, also voiced his displeasure.
"It's kind of unfortunate (when) you have to resort to that kind of negotiating," said Gionta on Friday.
The deadline for players to vote on their latest disclaimer of interest option is Saturday at 6pm et. A vote in favour would give the NHLPA executive board the power to file, essentially dissolving the union and allowing players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the owners.
"As far as I know, negotiations were going well, and then they turned around and pulled a couple of dirty tricks that upset a lot of us," said Phillips. "So now we're back to where we were, in terms of having votes (for a disclaimer of interest)."
