The Ontario Hockey League has reduced the penalty given to the Niagara IceDogs for player recruitment violations.
On Feb. 15, the OHL announced the IceDogs had been fined $250,000 and ordered the club to forfeit two first-round draft picks after a player told league investigators in 2018 that the team offered to pay him $10,000 for each of the four years he played for the team before it reneged on the agreement.
The league reduced the penalty to a fine of $150,000 and one first-round draft pick after the club acknowledged it violated player recruitment rules as part of the settlement.
Lawyers for the IceDogs asked a Superior Court judge last week for an interim injunction that would have stayed the disciplinary proceeding until a dispute between the team and the former player went to arbitration.
However, Justice James Ramsay denied the request.
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The identity of the player has not been revealed.
Niagara (44-17-7) finished in second place in the OHL’s Eastern Conference this season and opened the playoffs Thursday night with a 2-0 win over the North Bay Battalion.
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