Former NHLPA Ombudsman Hargrove Tells His Side Of Kelly Story

Hargrove Says He Didn't Encourage Kelly's Firing

Former NHLPA Ombudsman Buzz Hargrove said it is an "absolute out-and-out lie" that he "encouraged the decision for the discharge" of former union Exec Dir Paul Kelly in August, according to Ken Campbell of THE HOCKEY NEWS. Hargrove, making his first public comments since resigning from his post earlier this month, said of Kelly's ouster, "I never once talked to one player. I made my report, they asked me to leave and I left. I didn't even know the decision had been made." Hargrove also dismissed the idea he resigned because he was going to be fired, saying, "That was not a concern at all. As a matter of fact, if somebody had told me I was going to get fired, I probably wouldn't have resigned. I would have stayed back and fought." Hargrove said there are a "lot of wonderful people" still working at the NHLPA, but also a "very small number of people with their own agendas." He added, "They have agendas that are more focused on revenge than the good of the organization. And until they get out from under that, they're going to continue to have problems" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 11/13). Hargrove last week on Rogers Sportsnet's Prime Time Sports said, "I never encouraged anyone to fire Paul Kelly. I never encouraged them to make the decision at 3:30 a.m. in the morning. Nobody asked me my opinion about when they should make the decision, so all of these things that have been hanging out there are absolutely untrue" (GLOBESPORTS.com, 11/15).

TIME TO SHAPE UP: The NHLPA last week named Bruins G Tim Thomas to a four-player panel to review the union's constitution, and Thomas said, "I volunteered for it, and I'm happy I got chosen. ... We have to get our house in order for what is coming up, for what is coming up in the future." Thomas noted that there will "be a need to negotiate a new" CBA with the NHL and "deal with the ramifications of the cap system, which last season had NHLers surrendering" 12.9% of their gross earnings in escrow. He said, "That's heavy escrow right now. If we've got the right leadership in the PA, ideally they work in conjunction with the NHL right now to grow the league's revenue" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/15). Meanwhile, former NHLer Jeremy Roenick yesterday said the NHLPA has been a "mess for years and years." Roenick: "I don't think people we've had in there before Paul Kelly were helping it at all. There are a lot of untrustworthy people who have done some untrustworthy things." He added, "I've seen a lot of mishandling of money, mishandling of arbitration cases, mishandling of hiring help for the PA that has been a waste of the PA's money. They need to do something right now to get some legitimacy back into the organization and bring some strength to the players and bring some honesty and trustworthiness between the players and the people who are heading the PA. Before we get that, we're going to struggle with our membership" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/16).

COLD, HARD CASH: In N.Y., Larry Brooks wrote the NHLPA used to be a "functioning organization dedicated to the financial betterment of every player in the union," and "that is the way it must be if the union is to rebuild itself in the image of those who understood the necessity of sacrifice to attain a common goal." Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin reportedly "interrupted a PA conference call last month to declare that his only interest was in reducing or eliminating escrow deductions that conceivably will cost him upward" of 15% of his salary this season. But Brooks wrote Ovechkin's and Penguins C Sidney Crosby's increased involvement with the NHLPA is "welcome only if they are in it for their brothers and not to reverse the course and meaning of this union's history by focusing on escrow as their raison d'etre." Ovechkin, Crosby and all NHLPA execs "must understand that the one insidious element of the hard cap that never changes is that what is good for one player is necessarily bad for his teammates, and that whatever is good for the individual is bad for the collective" (N.Y. POST, 11/15). The GLOBE & MAIL's Eric Duhatschek noted Blackhawks Senior Adviser of Hockey Operations Scotty Bowman believes that next year's salary cap could drop about $2M, a "reasonable prediction given how little box-office revenue is being generated in Phoenix, Tampa and Atlanta." Even the "rising Canadian dollar won't offset those black holes." If Bowman's cap forecast is "ultimately how it plays out, you'd have to think most general managers will get even more gun shy about adding high-priced help unless they're on expiring contracts" (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/15).