Lawsuit accuses NHL of cheating its players out of millions of dollars!

TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead published a bombshell story today detailing allegations from a former NHLPA consultant and his $100 million lawsuit.

Richard Rodier is suing the NHLPA for $100 million alleging that the players' union misused his own confidential information to bolster their own case that NHL teams had underreported their revenue, thereby enabling the league and the union to pay less money to its players.

From Westhead:

Richard Rodier made the allegation in a lawsuit filed Jan. 6 in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto. Rodier, who did not explain in his lawsuit why he has demanded so much money, has asked the court to order the NHLPA to provide a full accounting of all revenue received, or to be received, from the NHL on or after he sent a memo to the NHLPA on May 11, 2018, about potential situations where teams might be misreporting hockey-related revenue (HRR).

Rodier wrote in his lawsuit that the confidential information he provided to the NHLPA in the May 2018 memorandum was instrumental to the NHLPA pursuing claims from the league that resulted in additional revenue.

Rodier has been at odds with the NHLPA for years over his allegations that the union has mishandled its pursuit of NHL teams he says have misreported revenue.

Rodier also is asking the court to order the NHLPA to preserve and maintain all accounting records, internal and external communications related to HRR and not to “hide, erase, deface or destroy said records and communications.”

- Rick Westhead

“We are aware of the lawsuit filed by Mr. Rodier,” an NHLPA spokesman wrote to TSN reports Westhead. “It is wholly without merit, and we will fully defend the matter.”

Westhead and TSN have previously reported that Rodier has claimed that NHL teams are almost universally underreporting their revenues and that player escrow deductions could be slashed by as much as 25 to 25 percent. It's worth noting that Rodier's speciality is in scrutinizing balance sheets and financial statements.

For those not in the know, NHL players typically don't receive their ACTUAL salary. Rather, they have a 50/50 split of all revenue with the league itself. So, while a player's salary may say $5 million on paper, the actual amount that they get paid is dependent on how much revenue the league brings in. As a result, a percentage of each players' salary is held in escrow until the end of the season when full revenues can be calculated. So, Rodier is alleging that NHL teams are fudging these numbers in an attempt to hold on to more than their 50% share.

Shocking? Not really... 

NHL teams are owned by some of the richest men in the world and rich men usually don't stay rich by paying out tens of millions of dollars. So, while I think this is scummy to the 100th degree, sadly this is 'business as usual' in professional sports.

Rodier claims that he had confidential information that the NHLPA could use in potential claims against the NHL and that he would disclose that information for financial compensation. In other words, he had information that they wanted and he was looking to sell it. Instead, Rodier alleges, that the NHLPA promised they would "treat him fairly" if he shared information, which he did. It was at that point that he got iced out and was told that the information he provided to the NHLPA was their information and that he was not entitled to compensation.

Suffice it to say that this story has the potential to create more dissonance within the already tumultuous NHLPA.