NHLPA votes to begin search for Don Fehr’s replacement
For the first time in the 55-year history of the NHL Players’ Association, it appears a peaceful transition of power will be in order for hockey’s player union.
The NHLPA announced on Friday night that the union’s executive board voted this week to appoint a search committee to begin finding a successor to executive director Don Fehr.
Fehr, 73, is in his 11th year with the NHLPA since being installed in Dec. 2010. After a 35-year run in baseball, Fehr navigated NHL players through two rounds of Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations in 2012-13 and 2020, which included an owner’s lockout and a global pandemic.
But the clock was ticking on Fehr’s tenure.
The temperature had been turned up internally in recent days and weeks for Fehr to come to grips with a change in leadership. It was unclear Friday what role Fehr played, if any, in the executive board’s decision to move forward with a vote – which concluded unanimously, according to multiple sources.
The NHLPA said only that Fehr will continue to lead the NHLPA as executive director “throughout the search.”
That is a win for NHL players, because the union has been plunged into chaos all too often, since each of Fehr’s four previous permanent predecessors were fired from the position.
On Friday, the executive board appointed seven current players to the search committee, including Ian Cole, Justin Faulk, Sam Gagner, Zach Hyman, Kyle Okposo, Nate Schmidt and Kevin Shattenkirk. The NHLPA said additional members may be added to the search committee up to and during the next in-person executive board meeting in July in Toronto.
The seven-player search also issued a statement thanking Fehr for his service, pointing out one of the highlights of his tenure, which was the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2016.
“The many players who have played in the NHL over the last eleven years greatly appreciate the significant accomplishments under the leadership of Don Fehr,” the statement read in part. “We look forward to continuing to work with Don as we go through the succession process.”
It was also not immediately clear whether the search committee will seek to engage an independent executive search firm to organize and streamline the process. Nearly half of the search committee’s members are participating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which get underway on Monday.
With increased chatter surrounding Fehr’s inevitable departure, a number of potential candidates to replace Fehr had churned up in the rumor mill, including but not limited to Mathieu Schneider (NHLPA special assistant), Mike Gillis (former Canucks GM and current NHLPA consultant), Allan Walsh (player agent), Ian Pulver (former NHLPA employee and current player agent) and Glenn Healy (former NHL goaltender and current NHL Alumni Association director).
The successful candidate should have intimate knowledge of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the NHLPA’s inner workings, fresh ideas for organic revenue generation, strong collaboration and communication skills, as well as an ability to commit to the union ideally for the better part of the next decade.
Any candidate put forth by the search committee will need to be approved by the full 32-member executive board via vote.
The NHLPA did not offer a timeline to have Fehr’s successor in place, saying the search committee will provide a progress report to the executive board at the next scheduled meeting in late July.
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