NHLPA Offers Paul Kelly Five-Year, $10M Contract
The NHLPA has offered prospective Exec Dir Paul Kelly a five-year, $10M contract, according to Rick Westhead of the TORONTO STAR. The contract details were included in secret ballots that were sent out by the union yesterday to the 30 team player reps. Kelly’s hiring requires a simple majority vote. Westhead writes the NHLPA’s offer to Kelly “might raise some eyebrows among [former NHLPA Exec Dir Ted] Saskin’s former allies,” as Saskin was “criticized after negotiating for himself a $2[M]-a-year contract, which had been what his predecessor Bob Goodenow was being paid after more than a decade on the job” (TORONTO STAR, 10/17).
NEW APPROACH: When asked if he thought the NHL would "give the players an opportunity to be part of the marketing strategy, something which hasn't happened so far, Kelly gave every indication the picnic in the NHL's New York offices is coming to an end." Kelly: "Anyone who thinks we're in a real partnership here, well, I don't know what they've been smoking. If they won't let us get more involved, then the NHLPA will make aggressive efforts on our own to market the players and the game because the players are the face of the game and the ones who make it work" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 10/17)
E-MAIL TRAIL: In Toronto, William Houston notes an e-mail exchange between TSN’s Gord Miller and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly “may have helped Saskin identify his enemies" within the NHLPA -- former NHLPA Associate Counsel Ian Pulver, former Dir of Player Relations Steve Larmer and Red Wings D Chris Chelios -- because Daly “forwarded the message to Saskin.” Miller defended the e-mail, saying that he was “dealing with a source” and one way of “extracting information is to share information.” Miller: “I’ve done it thousands of times. I’ll do it thousands of times again. ... The information was bang on -- that two insiders were trying to unseat Saskin. Obviously, Saskin wasn’t going to tell me anything, and he didn’t. I wanted to speak to people who dealt a lot with Saskin who [he] might … confide in. One of them was Daly. So, I sent him that e-mail.” Miller “denied taking sides” and said that it was wrong to presume that because he works for an NHL rights holder he was “cozy with the league.” Miller: “I didn’t rat anybody out. My objective was to tell the hockey world about it.” Miller added, “Daly should not have forwarded my e-mail to Saskin. That was completely unprofessional. Daly and I had a very terse conversation about it on Saturday, and he apologized” (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/17).
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Chelios Accusing Hockey
Agent Of Undercutting NHLPA |
DECERTIFICATIONS NEXT? In Toronto, Allan Maki writes Chelios has accused hockey agent Don Meehan of “undercutting the NHLPA by supporting" Saskin and there has “long been speculation that a group of players, the majority of whom are Meehan clients, sidestepped Goodenow’s no-cap position in an attempt to end the lockout.” If that happened, it is “possible a decertification case could be built against Meehan.” Meehan several months ago said that he played “no active role during the lockout and challenged his critics to identify themselves.” Hockey agent Ritch Winter said, “I am absolutely certain there are agents who will be decertified because of their active interference in negotiations between the NHLPA and NHL and because of their activities in supporting Ted Saskin’s violation of the players’ rights, which was a violation of the constitution” (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/17).
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