The NHL Players’ Association’s search to replace Don Fehr as executive director has included outreach to a wide spectrum of agents to elicit feedback regarding both the current state of the union and its future direction, Slap Shots has learned.
That is noteworthy given the arm’s-length treatment representatives have been accorded under Fehr’s administration, which, by the way, has indeed followed through on inserting the veritable loyalty oaths to the NHLPA into agent regulations that we first described months ago. More on that in a bit.
We’re told that multiple agents contacted by representatives from the executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates and by players on the search committee have indicated their belief that the PA has become too passive and conciliatory in its dealings with the NHL and must take a more assertive approach in advance of the next round of collective bargaining, four years hence, and in generating revenue-producing initiatives.
It is recognized within the PA that a more assertive approach would necessarily entail increased engagement from the rank-and-file, which has exhibited a growing and stunning lack of involvement or education on attendant issues. That is not across the board, obviously, but players have largely checked out since Owners’ Lockout III was settled in 2013.
We have not done a scientific polling of the entire field of agents. Some may subscribe to the go-along-to-get-along philosophy under which the average NHL salary has increased to the $3 million range. No one should be holding bake sales or starting GoFundMe pages for these professional athletes. Sympathy is not being solicited.
But the increase in salaries has been dwarfed by the percentage increase in franchise values in the hard-cap world. And no, shouting, “Global Pandemic!” does not explain it. You may believe that players already make too much money. But why wouldn’t that apply to the team owners?
Regardless, the search is ongoing, though without a particular timetable established to name a successor. There appear to be a number of familiar candidates, but there also is a sense from multiple sources that a new set of eyes is needed to lead the PA and prepare the athletes for the fight ahead. Unless, of course, players don’t want a fight. Unless they collectively think this is good enough.
But if that were true, they could have stuck with Fehr.
Among the changes to the regulations governing certification now in effect, the union declares that, “agents are acting on behalf of the NHLPA, and therefore, owe a duty of loyalty to the NHLPA and to the union as a whole, as well as to their player-clients,” as per the document, obtained by Slap Shots.
This just in: The House Un-American Activities Committee has been revived and will begin calling witnesses.
Regulations also demand “support for the NHLPA’s collective bargaining negotiations and its administration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement,” under possible penalty of suspension or decertification.
In other words, if this stands, be prepared for many variations of, “One prominent agent said,” next time around.
So there was the interim director of Hockey Canada’s Board of Governors, Andrea Skinner, testifying before a committee of the House of Commons, slipping into the scoundrel’s cloak in deflecting all responsibility while blaming all of the usual suspects — The media! Politicians! Society! — for the burgeoning scandal that has consumed the program.
Which goes to prove that when it comes to those seeking to cling to power, there is no gender gap.
It didn’t work. Skinner resigned Saturday night.
Have you heard the one about two future Hall of Famers and P.K. Subban walking into a bar to announce their retirements on the very same day?
Zdeno Chara’s 2006 signing by the Bruins represents the greatest free-agent acquisition in NHL history. It is unfathomable that Big Z won only one Norris Trophy (in 2008-09), though he did finish second twice and third three times, when opponents game-planned not to go down his side when facing Boston. Wingers sometimes switched sides to avoid the one-on-one matchup. That of course amounted to a failing strategy when Chara switched sides as well.
I have written before about the irrational underrepresentation of defensemen in Hart Trophy voting. Somehow, Chris Pronger (in 1999-00) is the only defenseman since Bobby Orr (three straight from 1969-70 through 1971-72) to be named MVP. Chara somehow never finished higher than eighth in the voting. Orr and Pronger are the only defensemen to win the Hart since the red line was introduced in 1944-45.
Think about that for a moment.
Access the Rangers beat like never before
Join Post Sports+ for exciting member-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.
tRY IT NOWThat represents a miscarriage of justice that should be salved when Chara sails into the HHOF upon gaining eligibility in three years.
He will be accompanied by Duncan Keith, as valuable to the Chicago quasi-dynasty as Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane, and who presented an uncommon blend of skill and meanness. Indeed, Keith was too often allowed to escape without meaningful consequence by the Department of Player Safety.
There aren’t many in that Keith mold anymore.
And Subban was among the most compelling players in the league his first eight or nine years, his off-ice reputation burnished by his charitable endeavors even as he contemporaneously became a polarizing individual within the room. His fall was swift, though, his retirement at age 33 somehow both premature and serendipitously timed before his recklessness could injure anybody else.
Kane has a claim, Auston Matthews is going to stake out his, but as of now, Chris Chelios and Brian Leetch, one-two, respectively, remain at the top of the list of the greatest American-born NHL players.
Finally, I am waiting for someone to explain to me why it was David Quinn’s fault that Lias Andersson was waived by the Kings.