Sarah E. Cannon, The Puck Stops Here: A Legal Argument for the Establishment of a Domestic Violence Policy in the National Hockey League, 2023 Wis. L. Rev. 1379 (2023).
Nearly a decade after the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball established their domestic violence policies, the National Hockey League (NHL) inexplicably remains the only major professional sports league in the United States without a league-specific policy. While the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association do incorporate a provision regulating off-ice conduct in their collective bargaining agreement, the current provision is highly discretionary, overly vague, and ultimately insufficient to properly protect both survivors and accused players.
Domestic violence and sexual misconduct remain urgent issues in professional sports, and it is essential for the NHL to establish a league-specific policy. The NHL must codify a domestic violence policy in its collective bargaining agreement to ensure justice for survivors and fair process for accused players, following the lead of the other major sports leagues. This Comment evaluates the inadequacy of both available judicial remedies for survivors and the league’s current regulation of off-ice player conduct. It concludes by providing policy recommendations for drafting an NHL-specific domestic violence policy based on a comparative analysis of existing major professional league policies.