[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Eddie Livingstone kind of had a reason to be a jerkface.

In 1916–17, the last season of the old National Hockey Association, the Canadian Army iced a professional team – 228th Battalion, the Northern Fusiliers. They played out of Toronto and drew huge crowds for every game.

Halfway through the season, the battalion was sent overseas and had to withdraw from the league. Rather than finish the schedule with an odd number of teams, the other owners voted to suspend Livingstone's Toronto Blueshirts without compensation. However, they demanded a $3,000 forfeit from the Army for not finishing the season (and were laughed out of court for it).

When the NHL formed, it gave the Arenas all the players Livingstone had under contract – again without compensation. Of course he sued the league, and the appeals dragged on for a decade. One of the judges declared, ‘I look on the conduct of the defendants as utterly dishonest and despicable,’ and regretted that he could find no precedent for awarding punitive damages.

There was enough jerkiness to go around in those days.

Looking for confirmation from the judges, but yes old white men wearing monocles and top hats were jerks.