There are times when you consider the sheer childishness of the National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association and all you can do is shake your head and laugh.
But those who are caught between the petulance of both organizations are in no position to laugh. Most of them are merely annoyed right now, but gusts of full-blown anger are on the way.
The issue is the appointment of an arbitrator to settle disputes between labour and management.
It has been more than three months since the NHL exercised its right under the collective agreement and fired arbitrator Lawrence Holden.
In the weeks and months since then, the union and the league have not been able to agree on a new arbitrator. Someone who used to be involved in this process says it takes, on average, between six and eight months to decide on a new one.
When the current system was put in place in the early 1990s, the shelf life of an arbitrator was about three years.
But in the past few years that has dropped to about a year, as either side can fire the arbitrator once a year and they have not hesitated to do so, mostly because one side is sore about losing a few cases.
In the meantime, the cases pile up and players looking for a solution to mostly contractual matters continue to wait. There are now more than 100 cases to be heard, some of them dating to the owners' lockout in the 1994-95 season. An NHL source estimates that about 98 per cent of these cases are NHLPA-initiated grievances, which could make someone think the NHL is not overly eager to find an arbitrator.
While fans may think these cases are merely instances of millionaire players squabbling over money with billionaire owners, many of them are not. Many involve players who had only a brief run with an NHL salary, and the wait is taking its toll both emotionally and financially.
Warren Luhning, a 25-year-old former player, is one of those in limbo. He has been waiting at his home in Calgary for several months for a hearing on his grievance against the Dallas Stars. The Stars sent him to the minor leagues after he suffered a severe concussion and refused to pay the rest of his NHL contract, which called for an NHL salary of $375,000 (U.S.).
"It's something that could control your life if you let it," Luhning said. "Right now, it's more of a daily irritant than anything. It eats at me sometimes because I know exactly what I went through and how hard it was."
Luhning's NHL career lasted 29 games over three seasons after he was drafted in 1993 by the New York Islanders. He was a fringe player who thought he had finally made the grade in October, 1999, when he stuck with the Stars out of training camp.
On Oct. 22, during his last shift of the game, Luhning was cross-checked by Randy McKay of the New Jersey Devils. Hobbled by the insecurity that is a fact of life for all fringe players, Luhning kept the frightening symptoms of what turned out to be a concussion to himself, something he now admits was a mistake.
"I was a third-year pro, and I was feeling pressure from myself, my friends and my family [to stay in the NHL]" he said. "I told myself I could play through it."
He spent six more games with the Stars, but his play deteriorated. Dallas sent him down to the farm team in Kalamazoo, Mich. Luhning played a few more games there, until his condition scared him.
"It got to the point where I couldn't remember if I washed my hair in the shower and I couldn't control my temper," he said.
Luhning then went to see Dr. James Kelly, the famous concussion specialist who advised Eric Lindros and others. He examined Luhning, told him his career could have been saved had he stopped playing after McKay's hit, but he had no choice but to retire now.
Luhning had the rest of last season plus all of this one left on his contract. The deal called for an NHL salary of $375,000 and minor-league salary of $75,000. The Stars said he retired while he was in the minors, and refused to pay his NHL salary. Luhning filed a grievance looking for his full NHL pay because the injury was sustained while he was on an NHL roster.
In the meantime, Luhning is trying to get on with his life. The symptoms of his concussion are gone, and he is working for a Calgary software company with plans to start his own Internet-based business with some partners in the spring.
Luhning also wants to go to graduate school to get an MBA. He has a bachelor's degree in economics, earned while he was on a hockey scholarship at the University of Michigan.
"Guys play through injuries," he said. "It's not the smartest thing to do, but it's the mentality of a player.
"My career could have been saved if someone had checked me before I was sent [to the minor leagues] Just a quick check. Maybe there should be a system the union has where guys get checked before they are sent down."
Maybe, but that would require co-operation between the union and management. And right now, these guys can't even agree on who should sort out their differences. dshoalts@globeandmail.ca