The NHLPA is long overdue for a leader with the fortitude to fight for their cause and the sensibility to remain neutral.
You probably don't care who the National Hockey League Players Association elects as its new Executive Director, but you should.
Especially if it's Paul Kelly, the NHLPA search committee's recommendation and the man who put former NHLPA boss Alan Eagleson in jail.
Why? Well for starters, Kelly is one hard-nosed lawyer, a man who books no nonsense. Not only did he get Eagleson convicted, but he overcame formidable political powers to make it happen.
Kelly fought against both political muscle in Canada and his superiors in the United States in trying -- and winning -- a case that was never going to see the light of day in Canada. He even took the fight a step beyond, trying to make a U.S. incarceration happen rather than surrender Eagleson to the Canadian system that he knew would look the other way at the first opportunity. Kelly lost that second fight, but the fact that he tried gives you a sense about how serious he is about righting wrongs and fighting injustice.
He's certainly not the kind of man who is going to let NHL commissioner Gary Bettman have his way with the union.
The second reason Kelly is important is Chris Chelios, the catalyst behind all the uproar at the PA and the driving force behind the search committee's efforts and its recommendation of Kelly.
For Kelly to get the nod from Chelios and the majority of the 30 team reps would signal not just a new era in leadership for the PA, but a resounding vote of confidence. Chelios was the player who steadfastly maintained that his sole motivation for going after Saskin was to right the perceived wrongs that led to Saskin coming to power (as brief as it was) in the first place. For this Chelios faced heavy criticism from the media (some of which arguably has a vested interest in the outcome) and from certain player agents, some of whom were said to be against former Executive Director Bob Goodenow. Despite it all, Chelios never wavered in his statements and stood up because he believes the process of determining leadership is every bit as important as the leader himself.
For that his critics - and they are not small in number or influence - have labeled him as everything from a shill for Goodenow to a power-hungry zealot determined to unleash the power of the players on arch-enemy Gary Bettman.
To be fair, there might be elements of truth in the above regarding Chelios' motives. He has long supported Goodenow and his militant stance regarding ownership, but for those of us who have been around the game for a while, some, like myself, longer than Chelios himself, that's understandable. The history of the NHL/NHLPA player relations long has been one akin to feudal society. Players were just a notch above serfs, meaning, necessary to get the work done.
In past years players often left the game for a life of poverty, physical ruin and sometimes despair or even death, such was their mistreatment during the so-called glory days of the Original Six.
That changed under Goodenow. An argument can be made that the PA under his watch went too far in regards to its control of the game and its finances. In short, Goodenow did make the players both rich and powerful beyond their imagination.
Chelios was not likely one to forget that.
It's also fair to say that Chelios has at times gone too far both in his actions on the ice (I personally can remember a nasty and totally unnecessary spear to the stomach of Rick Vaive that nearly lacerated Vaive's internal organs) and off it (calling for a "hit" on Bettman). There is also no doubt that Chelios will take umbrage regarding a now very public e-mail exchange in which Bettman kiddingly suggested to Saskin that Chelios be given a one-way trip to Moscow.
There is animosity between these two men; and if the e-mails are a fair indications Chelios could argue that Saskin was so corrupted by power and his association with Bettman and especially deputy Commissioner Bill Daly that his firing was not only warranted, it was mandatory.
But in the bigger picture that is like blaming Steve Moore for actions taken against him by Todd Bertuzzi. Though it's something a great many people in and around hockey seem to do on a regular basis, it is nothing more than a smokescreen that obscures the ultimate goal: the truth.
And the truth of the matter is that Chelios has shed light on a situation that had been cloaked in darkness. Because of him we now know the how the why and, to some extent the who in regards to the way Goodenow was removed and Saskin was inserted.
We know how the players came to surrender their mandate - a responsibility to make certain that the PA worked for them - and how they were able to, despite at times overwhelming odds, begin the process of getting it back.
Thanks to Chelios and the members of the search committee, the NHLPA is working toward remaking itself into a voice that must be heard regarding the best interests of the players and, perhaps even the best interest of the game.
If Kelly does become the new boss of the NHLPA, it's clear that he won't be just like the old boss (Saskin) or even the boss before him (Goodenow) and certainly nothing like the boss before either of those men (Eagleson).
He will be the boss because the players, through due process, will have determined that he is.
