Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Ron Wilson has been by the NHL after he reportedly offered his players an undisclosed amount of cash before the game as an incentive to beat the San Jose Sharks.
Why was he fined?
Because offering players money for a win constitutes a circumvention of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Specifically, Wilson’s contravened Section 26.3(g), which provides as follows:
Wilson also contravened Section 50.2(a) of the CBA, which provides as follows:(g) Neither a Club nor a Club Actor may pay or provide a Player anything of value, except as provided in his SPC, and such payment must not be in a form other than U.S. dollars, except as expressly provided in Section 50.2(a) of this Agreement (regarding Traditional Hockey Practices). Upon a finding of this Circumvention by the System Arbitrator, the Player shall forfeit to the League such prohibited payment or other thing of value.
50.2 Player Salary, Bonuses and Actual Club Salary.
(a) "Player Salary." The only allowable form of compensation permitted to be paid to a Player shall be Player Salary, as set forth in this paragraph (a), and Bonuses, as set forth in paragraph (b) below. No other type of compensation, in any form (except only for "Traditional Hockey Practices" as set forth below), shall be permitted to be provided to any Player. So paying Leaf players money for beating the Sharks is a circumvention of the CBA.
Under the CBA, penalties include the forfeiture of draft picks and fines. Lucky the NHL didn't make the Leafs forfeit their first overall pick in the upcoming draft.
Actually wait a minute...
If giving Leaf players lunch money to get them to win a game does the trick, maybe circumventing the CBA should become part of the Leafs overall strategy.
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