CBC-Sports

Kelly the latest victim in NHLPA's internal power play

August 31, 2009 11:25 AM | Posted by   Scott Morrison  

And so, less than two years on the job, 30 NHL players have determined that Paul Kelly was not doing a good job as executive director of the NHL Players' Association.

According to whispers, he was too tight with the league, didn't work hard enough at getting to know his own constituents and didn't focus on the issues the players felt were most important, whatever the heck that means. There is even one report that suggests his biggest sin was being too media friendly.

None of which are remotely reasonable grounds for dismissal, of course. But they are bullets in the chamber of what is now a smoking gun that was fired at Kelly early Monday morning in Chicago.

It appears, from a distance, that the NHLPA remains a divided, dysfunctional group. It appears that Kelly may have been the victim of an internal power play, and that there are still subversive forces within the union that took him down. Sources suggest there are others within the union office who have their eye on the big chair. There are other suggestions that former employees have worked to discredit the now former boss.

Theme arising

This was not about misdeeds or misdirection, as have cause for dismissal in the PA in the past. It is decidedly different than Bob Goodenow's departure, though there was a great divide then. Or Ted Saskin's departure, though there was again a divide even if the end result was right.

Seems to be a divided theme, don't you think?

It reeks of a power struggle, perhaps within the union office itself and within the union overall. However those 30 player representatives who voted early Monday morning are not speaking for an association that is entirely on the same page.

It's almost ironic that a union that for years had no control over its executive director almost has too much control now, witness the ease with which they were able to dismiss Kelly.

And so what qualities is the new executive director to bring to the job? Is he or she to be some sort of hybrid of the predecessors, distant from the league, tight with the players, contemptuous of the media and focusing on what the players think is important? Good luck with that hiring and that direction.

Bottom line is two years was too little for Paul Kelly.

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