Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Sabres captain Jack Eichel will travel to Buffalo for his pre-training camp physical this week amid questions of whether he'll be cleared to play, and his future with the team in limbo, a person with direct knowledge of the player's plans told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because discussions between Eichel and the Sabres have been private. The Sabres are conducting their player physicals on Wednesday, a day before opening training camp.
Eichel has been sidelined since March with a herniated disk sustained in a game against the New York Islanders. The injury has created a widening rift between the player and the team over how it should be treated in what has become an offseason-long standoff.
Eichel favours having artificial disk replacement surgery. The Sabres are against him having the procedure because it has never been performed on an NHL player.
Should Eichel fail his physical, the Sabres would be left with the option of placing him on injured reserve or long-term injured reserve because the injury is hockey related. Had Eichel elected to not report for camp, the Sabres would have had the option to suspend the player.
The difference of opinion over how to treat the injury led to Eichel questioning whether he wants to continue playing for Buffalo.
The Sabres have been actively shopping the face of their franchise for much of the summer, but have yet to attract what they deem to be a fair offer.
General manager Kevyn Adams in July said he wouldn't consider it a distraction if the captain was still on the roster once training camp opened.
"I'm worried about doing what's right for the Buffalo Sabres," Adams said. "That's why I take the emotion out of it, look at what's best for us moving forward. And if there's something that makes sense, we'll do it."
The 24-year-old Eichel has five years left on an eight-year, $80 million contract and features a no-trade clause which kicks in next summer.
Eichel s witched agents last month and is now represented by Creative Artists Agency's Pat Brisson, who represents numerous high-profile NHL players.
The change came a month after Eichel's former agents, Peter Fish and Peter Donatelli released a statement intended to place pressure on the Sabres in a bid to spur a trade. They wrote the "process is not working," and contradicted Adams by saying the team went against its own medical staff's recommendation in approving Eichel having artificial disk replacement surgery.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.