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In what is spiralling out of control into silly proportions, the NHL has filed a complaint against the NHL Player's Union. The complaint was made to the American National Labor Relations Board.

The NHL owner's have nothing in this complaint.

The NHL Player's Union stipulates that if a player returns to the NHL without a new deal in place they forfeit their stipend of $5,000 to $10,000 a month. Why would a player do this? Well, the NHL Owners are thinking about using replacement players.

What I don't get is this statement from NHL's chief legal officer:

The practice of conditioning the receipt of work stoppage benefits on a player's agreement not to return to the NHL without a new CBA was coercive, and in violation of the player's rights under the labor laws.

It seems that they are saying a player can return to the NHL if they give up their payments from the union. Seems like a fair deal to me.

Then again, the NHL Owner's and NHL Player's Association play by different rules in a different universe.