SAGINAW, Mich. -- The voices of discontent are rising within the ranks of the NHL Players' Association, coming up from the poor guys way below the decks in steerage, chained to the oars. You had to figure it was going to happen, but not now, not so quickly.

We didn't even get to Halloween before the working stiff started raising his voice with the entirely justified question: "What about me?"

It's going to be an interesting meeting in Toronto on Tuesday when the player representatives gather for an update.

Fires are springing up in Calgary, Montreal and Binghamton.

Those are just the guys willing to speak out publicly. If they are coming out and saying it in the media, you know a heck of a lot more of them are saying the same thing privately.

Now the NHLPA is faced with answering the question, just whom does it represent? What is its reason for existence? To protect the high salaries of the privileged 4% who make more than $6 million (all terms US)?

Or respect the wishes of the majority (71.2%) of its membership who make less than the average salary of $1.8 million?

It's interesting now that we're not hearing players like Mike Commodore, Pierre Dagenais or Brian Pothier retracting their statements with those ridiculous "My comments were taken out of context" or "When I said I'd accept a salary cap, I meant if the union accepted it."

If the plebes can hold sway (don't bet on it), at least NHLPA boss Bob Goodenow has an out to his "live cap-free or die" mantra. He can simply negotiate the best cap possible and say he did what his membership wanted.

If not, he faces a lot of guys jumping ship.

chris.stevenson@ott.sunpub.com