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Players to begin voting Sunday to give authority to dissolve union

Donald Fehr: Sidney Crosby

Donald Fehr, left, executive director of the NHL players’ association, talks to reporters following collective bargaining talks between the NHLPA and the NHL in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. Players, from left, Detroit Red Wings’ Daniel Cleary, Edmonton Oilers’ Shawn Horcoff, Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Carolina Hurricanes’ Eric Staal and Phoenix Coyotes’ Shane Doan listen in the background. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

AP

The NHLPA’s options in the face of the suit filed against them by the league aren’t many, but they’ll begin taking action on one of them starting tomorrow.

TSN reports the players will begin a five-day voting period on Sunday to decide whether or not to dissolve the union. Once the vote is completed -- and it’s believed they’ll have the votes to support a “disclaimer of interest” -- they’ll have until January 2 to file it.

Should things reach this point, the players could see their contracts challenged by the league. In the NHL’s complaint against the players, they said if their move to disclaim or decertify was upheld by the NLRB, they could move to void all current contracts.

While this all sounds like doom and gloom stuff right now, moving things into the courts could actually lead to a new deal being worked out sooner than not. That is if both sides aren’t deadly serious about going through the courts to get this whole thing figured out.