Report: Only 22 voted against giving NHLPA board authority to file disclaimer of interest

The question of how united the players and owners really are behind the union and NHL respectively has often been raised.

Now it appears apparent that the players are speaking as one — at least when it comes to granting the union the authority to dissolve.

A mere 22 out of 728 players voted against giving the NHLPA board the power to file a disclaimer of interest, according to ESPN and TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. On top of that, Sportsnet’s John Shannon pointed out that the turnout was over 90%. This comes roughly two weeks after the CBA talks broke down.

The results don’t come as a surprise, given that initial reports used the word overwhelming to describe the margin in which the players voted in affirmative. Even before that, Detroit’s Daniel Cleary predicted that “99.8%” of players would vote in favor.

Still, getting hard numbers cements those assertions.

It remains to be seen if the union will actually go through and file a disclaimer of interest, but they reportedly have until Jan. 2 to decide.

Meanwhile, the NHLPA and NHL aren’t expected to meet this weekend.