Mark Recchi Latest NHLer Calling Into Question Kelly's Firing
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Recchi Criticizes NHLPA
Handling Of Kelly Firing |
Bruins RW Mark Recchi last night "sternly criticized the process that led" to the NHLPA's dismissal of Exec Dir Paul Kelly last month, and noted there is a "growing unrest in the Boston dressing room over how it was handled," according to Kevin Paul Dupont of the BOSTON GLOBE. Recchi said that no NHL players outside of the union's Exec Board "knew that Kelly's ouster was at hand" during the board's August meeting in Chicago. Recchi: "That's 720 players who didn't know what was going on. Why not tell guys in advance what's going on? I don't get it." He added, "The second I learned what happened in Chicago, I knew the process was wrong. It stunk. This should not have happened and we have to fix it. We can't let this happen again. ... We want an investigation of how this was handled." Meanwhile, Hockey HOFer and former NHLPA VP Brad Park responded to Bruins D and player rep Andrew Ference's contention that Kelly was the "wrong man for the job." Park yesterday said, "Let me tell Andrew Ference, one defenseman to another, he should spend more time worrying about going back to get the puck than to worry about Paul Kelly’s ability to do the job as head of the PA." He added, "They had a guy like Chris Chelios in that room who disagreed, told them to wait and think. Maybe guys like Ference should take time to listen to guys who are older and smarter. ... What makes him so (expletive) smart?" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/24).
TAKING A STAND: Kelly's attorney H. James Hartley yesterday also responded to Ference's comments, issuing a statement that read in part, "Paul's long and accomplished career, and his history with the game of hockey, were instrumental to his hiring following a vote by the 740 members of the Players' Association and served the players [extremely] well. An objective and bona fide review of the facts by neutral parties would shine light on what really happened and why." The GLOBE's Dupont noted Hartley's comment regarding the voting process is the "most significant and damning toward Ference," who "made it sound as if Kelly were hired by only five PA members." Dupont: "Point in fact, Kelly's election, just less than two years prior to his being fired, came as a result of a vote offered to all members of the PA" (BOSTON.com, 9/23).
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