NHL Lockout Illegal? Oilers and Flames Players Say So

The NHL lockout is in full affect currently, and teams and fans are both on edge about the potential of some serious time being missed.  It seems that while some teams are taking the sit back and wait approach, others are making moves that are pretty much completely unexpected.  It was recently reported that both lawyers from the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers are both attemtping to have the NHL lockout declared illegal under Alberta law.

This is a very interesting argument, and one that the NHL has already argued in the past.  Their argument is that the Alberta Labour Relations Board that has a league spanning two countries can't actually operate under different laws for each specific team.  The decision for this topic from the labor board was pushed back to a later date.  The hearing that was held for it featured around half of a dozen players, and three of them were from the Oilers, including goalie Devan Dubnyk, Ryan Smyth, and forward Sam Ganger.

With the lockout currently starting this past weekend, a few of the players have already moved on to sign with European teams for the upcoming seasons, with the main concern being the fact that there haven't actually been any formal talks between the two sides in over a week and a half, or since September 12th to be exact.  With training camp officially set to open this past Friday, the fans are in a bit of a frenzy with the serious possiblity that we could not end up having hockey for quite a while.  On top of all of this, preseason play is cancelled through the end of September.

The Players Association lawer, Bob Blair has stated that the Oilers and Flames are both Alberta businesses, and the labor laws do indeed have to be followed, as neither team has agreed to forgo their rights.  This has the potential to get a bit sticky, and definitely very interesting, as the Montreal Canadiens actually launched a similar argument in Quebec this past week, but their labor board turned down a request for a temporary injuction against this lockout.  There will still be more hearings on the situation though.

Fans, players, owners, players, sports bettors, and anyone else are all on their toes waiting to see what the outcome is on these situations, but it's safe to say that all sides really just want to have an end to this lockout, and for the players to get back on the ice for the game that gets attention from fans all around the world.