Donald Fehr favourite for NHLPA Executive Director position
Officially the change won’t come before mid September at the earliest but unofficially Donald Fehr is already being considered the new executive director of the National Hockey Leagues Players Association. Not everyone is happy about it though. Fehr comes with tons of experience and a reputation as a hardliner. Fehr formerly led the Major League Baseball Players Association for 26-years and as a sports union executive, he might very well be the most experienced and capable candidate out there.
Fehr’s likely appointment as NHLPA boss has many seriously concerned. As an advocate for the player Fehr doesn’t think twice before even putting them ahead of the game. The appointment is being likened to Armageddon for the sport. Not just because of Fehr’s reputation as an inflexible negotiator but also because he would be going toe-to-toe with another inflexible negotiator in the shape of NHL’s Commissioner Gary Bettman.
When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, you get another work stoppage.
Both men have a history of being stubborn. Bettman is considered the architect of the 2005 NHL lockout. Fehr on the other hand was the force behind the 1995 lockout. You could say that the two are extremely similar but stand on opposite sides of the eternal ‘league vs. players’ war. When the next collective bargaining agreement is to be negotiated after the 2011-2012 season, it would be Bettman against Fehr and that is what so many are worried about.
Even if the two avoid a work stoppage and come to terms, there would be fierce negotiations, uninhibited posturing and possibly an exchange of verbal blows from time to time.
Lately, the players association has been in a leadership limbo. Since the lockout and eventual surrender to the league, 3 NHL presidents came and went. While the association sent out and brought in people one after the other, the league took full advantage of the situation. Without firm leadership the league went about bullying the players and having their way with them. An opinion that Jamie Langenbrunner, New Jersey Devil’s captain, expressed earlier this week following the league’s rejection of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract. “They're throwing a few hammers out here because of the situation the PA has been in for the last year. They see a little bit of a wounded animal and they're taking advantage”, Langenbrunner said.
Fehr would certainly put a stop to that if not a stop to the whole game altogether. His appointment brings a much needed balance of power between players association and the league. If nothing else, Fehr is going to be very good for the players. Under his leadership, he fought off the salary cap in baseball and bumped player salaries by almost 3 times.
“Don Fehr at our helm...he is probably the last guy [Bettman] wants in that position”, said the Flyers players representative after the rumour initially began to surface. Fehr’s plans for the NHL are as of yet unknown. He has been serving as an unpaid consultant to the NHLPA for a year and has developed a deep insight into the challenges the position would bring.
That is of course if he becomes the next executive director. While he may be leading the race his appointment hasn’t been confirmed. The 62-year old has given away nothing himself and was quick to disappear during the Hockey Summit when the news first broke. The players association wants to keep things under wraps too until things are settled and have tried to play down the speculations around Fehr’s appointment.
Mike Ouellet, the players association’s chief of business affairs said that the process was still ongoing and the decision has not been made. Ouellet of course made no suggestion to the effect that Fehr was not the front-runner. Ouellet acknowledged the wealth of experience Fehr would bring with him. “I don't think there's anybody on the planet who has the type of experience he has working for a professional sports union”.
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