I’m a little surprised at how “short but sweet” the opinion is. The argument [arbitrator Richard Bloch] makes -- or I guess the one he accepts -- is pretty much exactly the one I laid out (“The League’s Case”), but it’s interesting how simply the whole thing lays out, and how much the NHLPA hung their whole case on the letter/spirit dichotomy. It sums up like this:
A Few Comments On The Arbitrator’s Kovalchuk Decision
NHLPA: The CBA doesn’t explicitly say you can’t do this.
Arbitrator: True.
NHLPA: So we’re done here.
Arbitrator: False.
NHLPA: But that’s all we’ve got.
Arbitrator: Okay, now we’re done.
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