Still Falling Apart

If there's a lasting legacy from the Alan Eagleson years at the NHL Players' Association, it could be described in a simple phrase that could be the union's motto.

Never trust anyone, either inside or outside the association.

Don't trust the NHL or the media, and don't necessarily trust anyone inside the union, some of whom from time to time must be purged for counter-revolutionary thoughts and actions. In rapid succession, the union has turned on three executive directors in less than five years, sometimes explaining what happened, sometimes not. It's like China in the 1960s, even more so given that while in theory a democracy, the hockey union is controlled by a small clutch of hired executives and player reps while the vast majority of NHL players don't give a hoot or are waiting to be told what they think.

So Paul Kelly has followed Ted Saskin and Bob Goodenow out the door, and the release from the NHLPA this morning regarding Kelly's departure was downright hilarious in its unwillingness to provide the hockey world with any specific information on why Kelly has been ousted.

This morning's release said the executive committee "voted overwhelmingly" to dump Kelly, the man who put Eagleson in jail, and said it followed an "in depth analysis of the NHLPA's operations."

Everyone is reading something into this, that it's the result of the unseen hand of Goodenow, or the departed former ombudsman Eric Lindros, or hardliners like Chris Chelios and Dwayne Roloson, the people who got rid of Saskin after he was found to be spying on association e-mails.

Must be a nice office to work in, huh? So comforting to always know the guy who's working in the office beside you may be secretly plotting against you. Goodenow and Saskin had a parting of the ways, and Kelly and Lindros were at each other's throats for months. Now it's lawyer Ian Penney and ombudsman Buzz Hargrove that may have led the charge against Kelly, men who were supposedly under his charge at the union.

Eagleson, way back when, was seen as too close to the league, and he betrayed the players. Now, the union seems incapable of ever fully trusting its leadership, or at least putting someone in place who isn't immediately the object of a coup attempt.

Meanwhile, most players simply want nothing to do with the union, not surprisingly given the way the organization collapsed during the 2004-05 lockout. The players now know that when push comes to shove there will be those among them that will jump ship and seek to cut their own deal, that the Europeans in the group will simply pack up and head home to play if there's another work stoppage, all of which adds to the internal distrust that has come to be the main feature of this dysfunctional organization.

The NHL general ignores the thoughts of the union because it can, because the union is too busy fighting itself to mount an effective opposition to policies and programs of the league with which it might disagree. Players are now coughing up more than 20 per cent of each and every paycheque to an escrow fund that few understand. The league has ignored the NHLPA on topics like franchise relocation and television, and now will once again have little or no idea who they should be dealing with at the union.

Does any of this matter to hockey fans? Not really, although in theory, a well-organized union could serve as an effective counter-weight to the league. But in general most fans believe the union does little of value for the game - the wonderful Goals and Dreams program would be one exception - and is there simply to serve the needs of wildly rich hockey players.

Talk that a more hard-line approach is required by the union is nearly laughable now that the league knows that it can break this weak-willed bunch just as easily in 2012 as it did in 2005. There is no rival league and there is no other meaningful employment option for hockey players who draw hundreds of thousands of dollars in paycheques.

Maybe Kelly wasn't hardline enough for some. But he was practical and reasonable. His biggest error may have been a naive belief he could trust those with whom he was working.

The knives at the NHLPA, it seems, are never actually put away.

Comments

[susanafoster@sympatico.ca]

Good review, Damien. Paul Kelly deserved much better than this treatment. He has been the essence of integrity and accomplished a great many positive benefits for the players. These guys deserve what they have coming after an internal, power struggle to gain control by self-serving back stabbers whose names you have accurately portrayed.

[Garmo]

very well put Damien...from what I heard of the man, he had class and character. He would answer questions honestly and give actual opinions. The NHL PA is becoming a real joke.

[Peter Dawson]

It would be nice to have a little more information on the issues that led to dissatisfaction with Paul Kelly. It seems that the players cannot agree on what they want the PA to be. Should the PA be strictly a collective bargaining vehicle, solely concerned with pay scale and working conditions and grievance issues? Can the PA adopt a wider role, advance the players interests on many fronts, become the defacto guardians of the game? Between contract negotiations, can the PA, or SHOULD the PA, effectively partner with the owners in a mutually beneficial relationship?

Anyone who has followed Buzz Hargrove's career should know that "partnering" with the owners ain't what he's about. He IS about motivating elected leadership; he certainly believes in educating the rank and file; the CAW he led was an activist union that advanced worker interests far beyond the workplace. It will be interesting, if he winds up with the top job, to see how his past experience translates into running a PA that includes teen aged millionairs among the rank and file.

I'd love to know the inside story, though, of how a small group of veteran hardliners managed this coup. I can't believe it was easy to oust someone with Kelly's credentials unless he was just incapable of managing these conflicting currents within the organization - or was unable to define exactly what the PA should be coherently enough to solidify support for his leadership.

[doug]

sometimes as a leader of a company it is not you per se', but rather the people you surround yourself with....Kelly made a grave mistake in one alienating Lindros as no matter what people think of him he holds a lot of clout within the union. And secondly it was a grave mistake for Kelly to give Glenn Healey such a large role, he is tactless, a loudmouth and a know-it-all. I as a member of that union would vote Kelly out just to get rid of Healey. So I believe it wasn't anything Kelly did job-wise I believe it was in what he didn't /did do as far as choosing his inner circle..

[2nd Guess]

". . . there simply to serve the needs of wildly rich hockey players." Isn't the primary mandate of any labour union/association to represent its members?

That said, the NHLPA isn't doing it well. Besides the shortcomings listed by Damien, why has the association been so silent while the NHL sinks tons of money into the Phoenix Coyotes -- thereby cutting into revenues that directly affect the salary cap?

[kushiro]

I'm hoping Hargrove takes over, if only because his inevitable comments about millionaire NHL players being treated "like second-class citizens" will be endlessly entertaining.

[Peter]

well, a well run organization run by all kind of lawyers. good luck with it! and Buzz Hargrove? wow! i wonder where this end up...

[Moe Green]

Damien, we need a fan's union. We have unions protecting the players and Bettman protecting the owners but no one protecting the game and its fans. How could we start one? What could we actually accomplish? Am I having a silly little dream?

[Moe Green]

Next players strike or lockout would be the perfect time to launch another league. perhaps an all-canadian one.

[Kevin Sloan]

Who's the answer to this ongoing problem at the NHLPA ? Larry Landon at the Professional Hockey Players Association ! HANDS DOWN !! The best candidate , second to none ! This time the NHLPA SHOULD HIRE , Larry ! He was interviewed the last time and the executive , made the MISTAKE of not hiring him . He is THE MAN for this position .

[jboy]

Anytime the Lindros cancer invades the body, you know you only have a few months to live.

Throw in Hargrove, who has no where to go now that he broke the automakers.

Saskin is starting to look good. Maybe emails should be spied on - find out where the knife will be coming from.

[scatmasterdd]

Peter Dawson: What is with the Hargrove worship fest. The CAW sure doesn't seem to be doing well right about now.

[nugentmania]

While I agree that Kelly probably got knifed from internal strife rather than performance, I think the NHLPA has made a huge mistake thus far in the Phoenix Coyotes saga. There should already be a lawsuit filed against the league for breach of contract regarding the CBA clauses linking revenue to salaries, with mountains of evidence coming out of the bankruptcy hearings thus far. At the least, the NHLPA should try and petition the courts to remove the Coyotes finances from the revenue/salary equation from the league as a whole, the smoking gun being concessions for Reinsdorf's bid and supported by the NHL that it appears Moyes was not going to be offered. The NHLPA needs to force their way...boot the door down...into this situation.

[Fast Freddy]

NHLPA should go and get Donald Fehr. True, he strikes me as a smug weasel, but who better to go up against The Count. I don't think the players would be able to unload him as easily either. True there is the steroid issue in baseball that Fehr presided over..... but does anyone actually believe Bettman when he claims the NHL is clean? Fehr is in my books the best man to head the union hands down!

[RebReb]

The team that Kelly put together to help right all the wrongs of the NHLPA was great. They knew what they were doing and were cleaning up the messes and trying to gain back the players trust. Which was being done. It is too bad that people with the wrong and bad intentions win out. The NHLPA needs people like Kelly.