Red Wings fined $250,000 for lockout comments
The Detroit Red Wings were fined $250,000 for comments made by senior vice president Jim Devellano regarding the lockout, according to The Sporting News.
Devellano told Island Sports News earlier this week that players should take the owners' proposal of 43 percent of the league's revenue instead of the 57 percent they currently get.
"The owners can basically be viewed as the ranch, and the players, and me included, are the cattle," Devellano said. "The owners own the ranch and allow the players to eat there. That's the way it's always been and that the way it will be forever. And the owners simply aren't going to let a union push them around. It's not going to happen."
Owners and team officials have been previously warned that they would be fined if they talk about the lockout, which began Sept. 15.
"The Detroit Red Wings' organization and the League agree that the comments made by Mr. Devellano are neither appropriate, nor authorized, nor permissible under the League's By-Laws," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "Such comments are neither constructive nor helpful to the negotiations."
The NHL cancelled preseason games through Sept. 30.
