Players' attack on union echoes similarities to 1989

	Alan Eagleson, who was the NHLPA leader 17 years ago, was accused of having a string of sweetheart agreements with the owners. Damian Strohmeyer/SI

Nearly 17 years ago, a group of 200 dissident NHL players gathered in Florida to discuss the failures of their union and its founder and leader, Alan Eagleson. They had suspected that something was wrong, but they were stunned as they listened to a list of Eagleson's indiscretions and betrayals, a list that included a string of sweetheart agreements with the owners that provided minimal benefits for them.

Ed Garvey, the attorney they hired to investigate their leader and himself the former chief of the NFL Players Association, explained that Eagleson had cheated them on their pensions and their health insurance, had deprived them of any voice in the governance of their union, was extravagantly overpaid and had given away any chance they had for free agency and big money.

The meeting was the beginning of what became a massive effort led by former players Carl Brewer, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr and journalist Russ Conway that resulted in the resignation, indictment and incarceration of Eagleson. In the process, Eagleson was disbarred and removed from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Now, after the lockout that eliminated not only the 2004-05 NHL season but also Bob Goodenow, the leader who came in to reform the union after the departure of the disgraced Eagleson, another group of dissident players is fighting mad.

Their anger echoes some of the dissatisfaction from 17 years ago. They want their union to fire Ted Saskin, the executive director who replaced Goodenow; they think his salary is excessive, they're upset about their union's agreement with NHL owners and its hard salary cap, and they want a trustee to run the union until new elections of executives can be held.

Led by Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, Oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson and retired forward Trent Klatt, they have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago to enforce their demands. They are basing their claims on a rarely used labor law known as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which was enacted in the 1950s to make unions accountable to their members and others. This is a clever legal maneuver that will allow the dissidents to present their grievances in a most effective way.

The players' attack on their union is another dramatic turn in the history of the most troubled union in sports, but there are differences between the Eagleson debacle and the current dispute. While the current dissidents include more than 100 of the league's 700 players, according to their attorney, Richard Marcus, of the Chicago firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, nearly every NHL player eventually turned against Eagleson. And even though the current claims against Saskin and the union are serious, they are nothing like the list of grievances that built up against Eagleson during investigations by federal prosecutors in Canada and the U.S. and in the remarkable series of reports by Conway in the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune.

The dissidents' lawsuit was filed "reluctantly and only after we had been stonewalled on every request that we made for information," says Marcus.

The dissidents charge the union's leadership with fraud and misuse of union funds. They're angry about an $8 million buyout of Goodenow's contract at the time he left the union, and they're angry about the $14.1 million that has been promised to Saskin in a six-year deal.

Although the dissidents realize that they cannot undo the collective bargaining agreement made a year ago with the owners, they are unhappy with it. They contend that Saskin, who was the union's senior director of business affairs and licensing during the negotiations, "intentionally concealed" critical parts of the deal, including the switch from a soft cap to a hard cap. Faced with a lockout that was about to continue into a second season, the union agreed to a hard cap that has effectively halted salary escalation.

Saskin says that the NHLPA has kept its members well-informed on all aspects of the collective bargaining agreement and calls the accusations against him groundless. "The claims issued in the complaint are the same claims that have been made repeatedly over the last 13 months by this tiny group," he says. "These claims, including the offensive allegations of illegal conduct, are completely without merit as has already been demonstrated in many forums on a number of occasions."

Although many NHL players are tired of the wrangling between their peers and their union, the dissidents are making serious claims. They are well represented and will not be outlawyered. Their efforts bear watching.