May 17, 2000
Ken Warren
The Ottawa Citizen
His $27.5-million lawsuit quashed before it reached trial, Len Potechin won't receive his wish to stare down suspended Ottawa Senators star Alexei Yashin in a courthouse, on behalf of the team's other 12,000 season ticket- holders.
And without a trial, no legal precedent has been set for any future type of similar fan lawsuit.
Does that mean the nine-month exercise was frivolous, as was suggested at the outset by Yashin's agent, Mark Gandler?
Are the hockey fans of the Ottawa area, those responsible for Yashin's multimillion dollar salary and the people who foot the bill for the lawsuit, no further ahead than they were in October, when Yashin began his season-long holdout?
Not so fast, says Ed Ratushny, a University of Ottawa law professor, who is familiar with the case from all sides.
Ratushny -- also a National Hockey League player agent whose son, Dan, played professionally and whose daughter, Kim, played for Canada's national women's team -- discussed the Yashin issue at length during a sports law course he taught at U of O last semester.
While no legal headway was made, Ratushny suggests the case could, in a small way, enter the environment of sports business law.
"I said from the start that the action was a longshot and I think everyone had to be prepared for it to be unsuccessful," he said.
"But it's a small example of fans wanting to be part of the action, feeling they should have some role in this. In terms of finding a legal avenue, there's nothing there, but if you're talking about a moral side, it's part of the culture now."
Jim Boone, a leader of the National Hockey League fans' association, also didn't believe Potechin would win his lawsuit.
But he was encouraged by the response to the case, both in Canada and the United States.
"People were looking at it so closely," he said. "From the people I talked to, there wasn't a whole lot of hope the thing would fly, but that's not to say it wasn't a worthwhile thing to endorse. It will have a ripple effect through all sports."
In the big picture, Ratushny says, the stance taken by Senators owner Rod Bryden not to capitulate to Yashin's demands for either a trade or a new contract could effect NHL contract negotiations in the future.
In the wake of the Yashin contract squabble, the NHL has encouraged its teams to take a hard line.
When Gandler argues the merits of Yashin becoming a free agent May 24-25 in Toronto, the NHL will counter on behalf of the Senators, claiming the Russian star still owes the Senators one season of service, at the $3.6 million U.S. he was scheduled to earn during the 1999-2000 season.
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