DEVELOPING: Kovy Deal Finally Approved, League Changes Rule

((HT: TSN/Dreger))

The NHL and the NHL Players' Association have reached an agreement on an amendment to the rules that govern long term contracts- like the ones that marquee players like Hossa, Pronger, Savard, Luongo, and now Ilya Kovalchuk have agreed to and signed.

As of late Friday afternoon, the league kept the pay window open past the end of normal business hours so the I's and T's could get figured out on Kovy's deal.

The new 15-year, $100 million package will be approved once all of the new agreements and paperwork between the league and NHLPA are signed and lawyered over in the appropriate manners.

According to the powers that are, those guy's contracts that front-loaded the deal and have people making money until they're forty are officially over.

Or so they say...
More when we know more...

DEVELOPING: NHLPA Strikes Fehr At The Bettman

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos confirms that the NHLPA has signed on Donald Fehr on an interim basis to be their Executive Director...

Fehr originally took a position as an advisor for the NHLPA shortly after resigning from his MLBPA post in June 2009. He'll be a short-term solution for the NHL union as 2012 CBA negotiations approach. Remember, Paul Kelly was fired so the position is vacant.

That noise you heard was NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman freaking out before the 2012 negotiations...

CBSSports.com's Scott Miller talks about his impact for baseball...


Yeah, the NHLPA just picked up the pace...
This was a little more serious than a shot across the league's bow...

The NHLPA doesn't like that the NHL doesn't like Kovy's contract...

File this under: You knew it was coming!

The NHL's player association (union), has filed a grievance with the NHL because they had a problem with Ilya Kovalchuk's 17-year contract with the New Jersey Devils.

More from NJ.com RIGHT HERE

TSN breaks down the logic RIGHT HERE

((Ilya Kovalchuk//File Photo))

The reason this is an issue is much simpler than the language in the accompanying stories. The league desperately wants to stop the trend of heavily front loading contracts to get around the salary cap. The problem is, they've already allowed several similar ones.

There is a lot of speculation that this is the first of many shots across several bows leading to a re-negotiation of the leagues collective bargaining agreement next year. Either way, Kovy may or may not be a free agent again...this year, we are just going to have wait until the lawyers make tons of money to have their say.

Here is what Kovy did at the end of last year for the Devils. Thanks You Tube:

Your Satellite Hotstove For October 3rd

((HT: CBC/NHL))

"Hockey Night In Canada" kicked off the season with a lovely version of the Hotstove.

It was McLean, Milbury, Healy, and Strachan talking about Phoenix, the NHLPA, and anything else they could cram into nine minutes...


Those of us at OSG HQ perked up our ears at Strach's comment about money in Winnipeg chasing after the Thrashers...

We're efforting...
More when we know more...

Glenn Healy Resigns From NHLPA

((HT: GlobeSports/Duhatschek))

In the continuing and ongoing shake-up at the NHL Players' Association, Glenn Healy – the director of player affairs under Paul Kelly – resigned today.

“It happened five minutes ago,” confirmed Healy just after 1 p.m. Thursday.

Healy's resignation came roughly three days after Kelly was fired as the association's executive director early Monday morning following a meeting of the NHLPA executive board in a Chicago hotel. Pat Flatley, the association's assistant director of player affairs, resigned his position shortly after Kelly was informed that he was being fired.

More when we know more...

What's The NHLPA Worth...? A Penny, For Now...

((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."

Kelly Out As NHLPA Head

((HT: GlobeSports/Wharnsby))

Paul Kelly ((pictured, thanks Adrian Wyld/CP)) has been fired as the NHLPA's executive director following more than 10 hours of meetings in Chicago that began Sunday and carried into the early hours of Monday. The decision to relieve Kelly of his duties less than two years into his leadership of the association was made by the 30 NHL team representatives who make up the NHLPA's executive board.

“Following the Executive Board’s review of the overall operation of the NHLPA, it was decided that Paul Kelly should no longer continue to serve as Executive Director'', said a news release put out the association Monday morning. "We appreciate Mr. Kelly’s service to our Association."

NHLPA staff members Glenn Healy, the director of player affairs, Pat Flatley, the assistant director of player affairs and general counsel Ian Penny attended the proceedings. A source stated that both Healy and Flatley were pro-Kelly, while Penny wanted to see a change at the top.

Not long after Kelly was informed of his dismissal, Flatley resigned from the NHLPA.
According to one report Monday, interim ombudsman Buzz Hargrove said he has no interest in replacing Kelly as the association's executive director.

There also have been charges made from the pro-Kelly camp that former ombudsman Eric Lindros continued to play a behind-the-scenes role in the attempted coup.

TSN's Darren Dreger has more from Chicago

Kelly Out As NHLPA Head...???

((HT: TSN/Dreger))

NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly, who has been on the job less than two years, is facing intense scrutiny according to union sources and his status may be challenged when the Players' Association's 30-member executive committee convenes Sunday and Monday in Chicago at a regularly scheduled meeting.

Sources tell TSN that NHLPA interim ombudsman, Buzz Hargrove is expected to make a presentation to the committee identifying concerns within the association about Kelly's leadership. No details have emerged about the nature of the concerns.

Sources say it's possible the executive committee could vote to have Kelly removed and, in accordance with the NHLPA constitution, could do so without consent from the full membership of NHL players.

Sources say a divide in leadership intensified in June at the summer meetings in Las Vegas when Hargrove, advisory board head Ron Pink and the advisory board addressed the membership privately and emerged with the executive committee's consent on a 5 year contract extension for the general counsel of the NHLPA, Ian Penny, without Kelly's consultation. A union source said that exclusion violated the PA's constitution.

According to article 6, section 2, subsection 3 of the players associations constitution, Kelly was required to be consulted by the 30 member executive board when Penny's contract was extended.

The article reads:
"The executive director shall consult with the executive board regarding the appointment and terms and conditions of employment of the general counsel of the association."

Another source says Kelly was consulted in the Penny negotiation.

It's believed Pink, a Halifax labour lawyer applied for the executive director job before Kelly was hired and sources say he would have strong interest in the job if Kelly is ousted.

While this weekend could erupt into a showdown between Kelly's supporters and those challenging his leadership, there is also a chance Hargrove and those who support him will be shot down by the committee and Paul Kelly and those close to him will get through the weekend unscathed.

Requests to interview Hargrove and Kelly were declined by the NHLPA.

Kelly succeeded Ted Saskin as executive director in October, 2007 after Saskin was let go amid allegations he had been monitoring players confidential emails.

Duhatschek: NHLPA 'Disappointed' With Coyotes Situation

((HT: GlobeSports/Duhatschek))

The stability and financial future of the Phoenix Coyotes was one of several topics discussed by members of the National Hockey League Players' Association at its annual summer meetings for North American players, held here Friday, and according to Glenn Healy, the NHLPA's director of player affairs, there is frustration that they have no say in the matter.

“You need to have leverage and rights before you can take a position,” Healy said. “We have no ability to dictate anything.

“We were told in September that the team was okay. We were told in February that the team was okay. In fact, at that point, [the NHL] had already infused tens of millions of dollars into the team. Any media outlet that wrote that the team was in trouble was ridiculed.

“So from that standpoint, we basically had the burlap bag over our heads with regards to the Phoenix situation, which is disappointing because we consider ourselves major stakeholders in the game, and it affects not only our 23 players there, but a whole bunch of players who used to play there as well.”

Healy said the Coyotes' struggles and the possibility of their relocation to southern Ontario were discussed under the broader umbrella of “marketplace issues,” which also included discussions on the future of the salary cap.

Under the current collective agreement, the players receive about 56 per cent of gross revenues, so a money-losing operation such as the Coyotes negatively affects the overall revenue pie.

In theory, the players and owners are supposed to be operating as a partnership, which, according to Healy, is not the case.

“My approach was, we've got some of the best stuff going on, on the ice, in a long time,” Healy said. “The problem is, we've taken the game from the sports page to the business page, and the quicker we can get it off the business page, the better it is.”

Michael Cammalleri, a native of Richmond Hill, Ont., said he couldn't speak for all the players, but he believes the Coyotes belong in southern Ontario.

“I think it's too bad things haven't worked out there,” Cammalleri said. “Putting a second team in southern Ontario is something that should be a priority for our league. I think it's a market that could grow serious revenue for everyone, and I'd love to see that happen.”

When Anaheim Ducks defenceman Chris Pronger was asked about the Coyotes' future, he said: “You're not going to have 30 perfect teams. That's a given, I don't care what sport you're in. Every sports league has its black sheep. It's how you work through those issues and how you work with those teams – to make them perform better from a financial standpoint – or they move.

“This is not going to be an issue that goes away fast. It's going to take some time and it's going to be a long, drawn-out process.

“We wouldn't be having this discussion if the economy were as good as it was two years ago. It's a global issue that impacts everybody, in their everyday lives, and it does pro sports as well.”

Among the on-ice issues tackled by the players in smaller group discussions: fighting, restrictions on goaltender equipment, and the NHL's new interest in toughening up drug-testing standards, raised by commissioner Gary Bettman during the Stanley Cup final.

“I don't feel like we have a big problem,” Pronger said of the possibility of extending drug testing to the off-season, “and I don't think it's that big an issue in our sport.”

Georges Laraque, one of a handful of enforcers who attended the meeting, made an impassioned plea in defence of fighting, and said “everybody pretty much agreed” with his recommendations, which will be forwarded to the competition committee for review next week.

“The big problem is, the league wants to have 10-minute misconducts for staged fights,” Laraque said, “but those rules that they're proposing do not fix the real problem. The real problem is guys falling down and knocking their heads on the ice when their helmets come off.

“Guys are still going to fight. The penalties aren't going to make it safer. I talked about ways of making it safer.”

Laraque suggested that equipment manufacturers develop a clip-on visor that a player can easily discard if he engages in a fight. That way he can keep his helmet on in case he gets thrown to the ice. Laraque also proposed a ban of the mixed-martial arts training that some younger fighters in the junior ranks are using, techniques he says do not belong in the NHL.

“That's an elbowing major and intent to injure,” Laraque said. “We're totally against that. Those are the types of things that we can talk to the league about.”

Kelly: "Pull The Plug" On Coyotes

((HT: Arizona Republic))

Paul Kelly, the executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association ((pictured, thanks Bruce Bennett/Getty)), has told The Hamilton Spectator that "it's time to pull the plug" on the NHL in Phoenix.

Kelly also tells The Spectator that NHL owners should not only be doubting that the Coyotes should remain in Phoenix, but that those doubts should have arisen long before now.

Speaking on a Toronto radio station Wednesday, Kelly asked: "How much money must (a franchise) lose before someone says 'perhaps they ought not to be there'?"

Kelly added that it may be acceptable for an owner to absorb huge losses for a year or two, but when losses have occurred over a number of years, and there's a buyer ready to step in, the NHL should consider such options.

"Yet we continually hear we have to stick by the franchise," Kelly told The Spectator. "There is some sense of frustration on the part of the players as they read sworn court documents as to how far down it's gone in Phoenix."

Kelly stopped short of specifically supporting Jim Balsillie's bid to transfer the Coyotes to Hamilton.

"We don't formally endorse or support the current effort to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario," Kelly told the radio station. "That's not to say we're against it either, but we are neutral."

The interview was on the Fan590 with Bob McCown and PrimeTime Sports...

Listen to it by clicking in black...

Those of us at OSG HQ think that Kelly's first quote can be substituted on a few different franchises currently floating about- like, oh we don't know, Atlanta...

NHLPA's Kelly: Leafs Not Against Local Rival

((HT: Rogers Sportsnet))

Reinforcing an interview he gave to the Fan960 in Calgary during the Flames-Blackhawks series over the weekend, Paul Kelly, the executive director of the NHLPA, was a guest on Hockeycentral at Noon and he was candid in his belief that the league should place another franchise in Southern Ontario.

"It's a no-brainer to consider the placement of another team here either in Toronto or in Southern Ontario," Kelly said. "There is unparalleled interest here. There's no question it would draw well."

Kelly said although there has been no formal request to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment about the placement of another team in the Toronto market, he's not certain the Maple Leafs ownership group would get in the way of another franchise.

Kelly does believe the Leafs would prefer to see a rival franchise play out of the Air Canada Centre rather than seeing another arena built somewhere north of the city.

"If you were going to put a second team in Toronto, the Leafs would rather see them in the Air Canada Centre rather than build another arena north of the city."
Kelly explained that the team would rather not see another concert venue built in the city.

Listen to the interview with Daren Millard on the Fan590 and HockeyCentral by clicking in black...