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Phillips rips NHL for “dirty tricks”

Chris Phillips

Chris Phillips is blaming the NHL’s “dirty tricks” on the current state of negotiations between the league and NHLPA.

Phillips, the Senators’ player rep, is specifically upset with what he believes was an attempt by the NHL to sneak past changes to the part of the CBA that covers the reporting (or misreporting, as the case may be) of hockey-related revenue.

“Basically, they changed the definition, where there would be no accountability in terms of HRR accounting,” Phillips told the Ottawa Sun 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.”

The NHL denied any wrongdoing, and the issue has since been resolved. But clearly the players are still angry.

Frankly, if this latest dust-up weren’t so sad, it would be downright hilarious. Think about it: we’ve gotten to the point where the players are accusing the owners of duplicity on the issue of punishing owners for being duplicitous.

Couldn’t make it up.