Arizona Coyotes could face serious legal battle after termination of players contract

PUBLICATION

TJ Tucker
February 24, 2024 (2:27 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

Adam Ruzicka is set to become a former member of the Arizona Coyotes today, 24 hours after being placed on unconditional waivers by the team for the purpose of terminating his contract. Some believe Ruzicka is getting exactly what he deserves after what happened, but one insider disagrees.

The Coyotes announced they were getting rid of Adam Ruzicka yesterday after a video surfaced online that Ruzicka had posted to Instagram and then deleted. It showed him with a container in his mouth that was full of a white substance. While it has never been stated publicly by anyone that the substance was something illegal, the optics were not good, to put it mildly. However, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff seems to believe the Coyotes were hasty with their decision, and Ruzicka should be heading to an assistance program before any decision on his contract was made.

"With #Yotes expected to officially terminate Adam Ruzicka's contract today, reminder that #NHLPA has 60 days to file a grievance.

There is a reason the union helps operate the Player Assistance program - players should be directed there for help instead of terminated."

"Forever in the #NHL, contract termination was the last resort - something rarely attempted for fear of reprisal from a strong union.

For players, watching teams terminate and then shrug and know they'll battle it out later to mostly favorable results should be a very troubling trend"

Seravalli added the NHLPA still has an opportunity to file a grievance in another case from this season where a player was let go before going through a program.

"To that end, the clock is still ticking on the extension that was granted to #NHLPA on potentially filing a grievance against the #Blackhawks to challenge Corey Perry's termination from November.

To date, no grievance has been filed.

When Evgeni Kuznetzov was suspended by the NHL after testing positive for banned substances at the World Championships, he went through the NHLPA assistance program and returned to the Washington Capitals. Ruzicka was never given that opportunity by Arizona. We've been left with nothing but speculation as to why without an official explanation from the league and the teams involved.