NHLPA SKATES AWAY WITH VICTORY IN BATTLE VS. LEAGUE?

          In a decision "handed down" Sunday but "not made
     public," arbitrator Lawrence Holden Jr. ruled the NHLPA is
     "under no obligation to force" Senators holdout C Alexei
     Yashin to honor his contract, according to Chris Stevenson
     of SLAM! SPORTS, who writes that the NHLPA "has won the
     first battle in the war" against the NHL.  Holden also
     "chastised the NHL for trying to achieve through the
     arbitration process what it could not get in collective
     bargaining -- a mechanism to penalize a player under
     contract for withholding his services" (SLAM! SPORTS, 3/23).
          CUT IT OUT! The NHL has "joined" the NFL in "banning
     the throat-slashing gesture" (USA TODAY, 3/23).