((HT: TSN))
Ian Penny ((pictured, thanks Bruce Bennett/Getty)) has been unanimously named as Interim Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players' Association.
He had previously held the role of General Counsel for the union.
Sources tell TSN Penny is not interested in the position on a fulltime basis and only took the title in order to give the NHLPA a point person during the coming days.
The move came after the 30 player representatives voted to fire Paul Kelly early on Monday morning at their meetings in Chicago.
NHLPA Ombudsman Buzz Hargrove told the TEAM 1040 radio station in Vancouver that the union didn't have faith that Kelly was the right man to lead them in their next contract negotiations with the NHL in 2011.
"They didn't want to wait until it was too late," Hargrove said. "If we waited until next year, you're almost on the doorstep of the opening of negotiations and they didn't want then to be caught with someone they didn't really think was able to unify and pull the group together and get them all working together. 'Trust and confidence' were the words they used and I think that's used appropriately."
Penny has worked as staff counsel with the NHLPA since 2000, and was promoted to his present position in 2007. The report states that Kelly had been at odds with Penny as well as with other key members of the NHLPA.
When asked if the NHLPA had any leads with regards to filling the Executive Director job, Hargrove said that there were no candidates.
"There's no names in the hopper at this point," Hargrove told the TEAM. "I talked to almost all the players before they left at noon today and no one had a suggestion. They really are saying that we need to do a search and we have to reach out outside of the organization, unless somebody surfaces that we haven't yet identified."
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