NHLPA officially comments on players involved in Hockey Canada scandal.

After what was a relatively peaceful collective bargaining agreement negotiation between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association, the two sides may be headed for a big fight regarding an entirely separate matter.

As all of you reading this already know, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote were all recently found not guilty in a court of law in relation to a sexual assault case that stemmed from an incident in a London, Ontario hotel room in 2018. While all charges against the men were dismissed by the court, the reality is that none of them have been reinstated by the NHL despite the verdict of not guilty.

Recently, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly made it clear that those players remained barred from participation in the NHL at this time.

"Really nothing new to report," said Daly on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "Their situation is still under review for now."

It is easy to understand why the NHL, which has a brand to protect, would want to maintain some distance from what was a very ugly situation but the NHLPA has now made it clear that they intend to fight the NHL on this matter. The NHLPA argues that, since all charges were dismissed, that the players should have their right to play in the NHL reinstated.

"We all went through the trial, we all watched it very closely, the players were found not guilty," said NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh. "Which means to us that they should be eligible to go back to the NHL and we are working through a process."

When Walsh was pressed on more details regarding when these issues might be raised with the NHL, he refused to comment any further.

"We're just working through a process," said Walsh, making it clear there would be no more information forthcoming.

The NHLPA has a responsibility to defend and uphold the rights of their members and it is easy to understand why they feel a verdict of not guilty should result in the players being allowed to return to their normal lives.

It seems we have two different perspectives here and how this will all play out in the coming weeks and months will be very interesting to follow.