NHLPA Tabs Four Veterns (Lids One) To Spearhead Review

[rage 24]

LINK

Sources say the player representatives voted 19-3 in favor of an official review of the Players Association with NHL veterans Rob Blake, Nicklas Lidstrom, Mark Recchi and Chris Chelios appointed to a committee to spearhead the review.

22 teams participated in the three and half hour call.

The remaining eight teams have 72 hours to vote, although only one vote is required to pass the motion.

.....................

Providing the review committee is approved, this group of four is expected to conduct an extensive investigation of the Players Association's recent business and according to sources, may interview union staff members and study internal emails as part of this review.

Awesome!!!

[rage 24]

I should have included Chelios in the Title of this Thread. Sorry!

[WpgMikos 17]

The entire PA needs to be overhauled.

[rage 24]

The entire PA needs to be overhauled.

True.

They all seem like great candidates for this. Chelios especially, he for sure will get down to business in a hurry.

My only concern is Lidstrom being tied up in all this, along w/ the Olympics, etc.

[RusDRW 155]

The remaining eight teams have 72 hours to vote, although only one vote is required to pass the motion.

and they and are those teams that would prefer to use spearheading as a part of their winning tactics?

[TheWestWing 71]

This just absolutly blows my mind. EIGHT player reps could not be bothered to participate on an off day. I realize this whole thing is a huge clusterf@&$, but are these guys just not interested? If I were one of the 168 or so players these gaggle of eight represent, I'd check em over the boards!

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

This.

[C-TownWing 0]

Four pretty highly-respected guys among the rank-and-file, no surprise there. Hopefully they can lead the process of getting that mess of an organization cleaned up. Considering the Goodenow era was the only time in NHLPA history that something shady DIDN'T go down (as far as I remember anyway, and even there, two lengthy labor stoppages were involved), that might be asking a lot lol.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

LINK

Awesome!!!

I don't know what to think about this.

My initial response, even as a wings fan, is that this is an extremely bias group of people to judge the PA/owners actions.

I also thought Chelios might be gunning for Paul Kelly's old position, and this basically kills that concept. He'd want to be an outsider appointed by the players, not involved in the committee to fix it.

[WpgMikos 17]

It is also believed the players discussed the firing of interim ombudsman, Buzz Hargrove

They love to fire people. In this case though I think it is probably the right thing to do.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Surprise! From Toronto Star :

When Sidney Crosby spoke up, the world changed for the embattled NHL Players' Association.

It was the 22-year-old Crosby, arguably the highest-profile player in the sport today, who raised his voice last Sunday on a union conference call and firmly told interim executive director Ian Penny to hang up the phone because union members wanted to have a players-only discussion. Penny, who had first been rebuffed in his efforts to have baseball union leader Donald Fehr speak to the NHLPA team representatives, finally had to relent and get off the line.

It was a bad moment for Penny, whose future with the association after leading a coup that dethroned former executive director Paul Kelly in late summer now seems to be hanging by a thread. More important, it was one of several signals that the players appear intent on regaining control of their own union nearly two months after Kelly's dismissal plunged the organization into disarray.

...

Good for him.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

I dont' know if this "coffee Klatch" is any closer to making another move, but... from Toronto Star :

There has been growing speculation that Ian Penny, interim leader of the NHL players' association, is about to resign in the face of mounting pressures from within the troubled union.

...

And from the same piece:

...

Penny would not comment Tuesday but a players' association spokesperson said: "Ian Penny is not resigning from the NHLPA."

[WpgMikos 17]

From Hockey or Die:

Yesterday Ian Penny, the interim executive director, sent out a six-page email to player reps, an email which contained two memos; memos identical in every respect except for one sentence. Here are the differing versions:

Version 1 - "Due to this unacceptable work environment, I am prepared to work with the Board to determine whether my employment situation can be resolved on reasonable terms."

Version 2 - "Due to the unacceptable work environment, I am prepared to resign from the NHLPA subject to certain reasonable conditions being met."

Understandably, the difference raised a few questions, and asked to clarify, an NHLPA spokesman gave the following statement:

"The substantive meaning is the same. Ian Penny is not resigning from the NHLPA."

The NHL must be licking its chops with the PA in such chaos.

[ami 273]

get rid of that bulls*** PA.

NHL is a business and trade unions are bad for business.

Dont you see that already?