Under a program dubbed "Big Brother," former NHL Players' Association executive Ted Saskin directed a colleague to covertly access the email accounts of as many as 45 NHL players and 21 union employees, and went so far as to retrieve confidential records about which players voted against the NHL's current labour contract, according to an internal union report.

The startling details are included in a report prepared for the NHLPA by Toronto lawyer Chris Paliare.

— Rick Westhead, Toronto Star

There's some incredibly damning stuff in here, including the fact that Saskin authorized the accessing of Trent Klatt's non-union email account when the player realized something was up with his @nhlpa.com address and stopped using it.

Saskin also used the details of how NHLPA members voted to "work the room" when convincing the membership to vote for the new collective bargaining agreement.

If this is the kind of stuff that's going to continue to come out, Saskin's wrongful dismissal suit doesn't have a hope, and Westhead even noted on the radio today that the union may sue him in order to regain some of his ill-gotten salary over the past two years.

What a mess.