Marty Walsh is leaving the White House to head the NFL players’ union
US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh was named executive director of the NHL Players’ Association on Thursday, bringing a veteran union leader and former mayor of Boston in charge at a time of growing hockey revenues and with collective bargaining a few years away.
The NHLPA said its board of directors, which includes representatives from all 32 clubs, unanimously approved Walsh’s appointment. Walsh will take up his new role in mid-March, succeeding longtime executive director Don Fehr, who has served for more than a decade.
Walsh, 55, said in a statement that by accepting this offer he is committing to doing everything he can to stand up for the players.
“My years of experience in the labor movement and in public life has taught me that the job is never about me,” Walsh said. “It’s about us. It’s about the people we serve. As such, I look forward to working with players and the staff of the NHLPA to make the NHLPA the best and most effective team we can be to advance and protect the interests of our players and their families.”
The NHLPA had been looking for a new executive director to take over from Fehr since April, when a search committee was formed to find his replacement. Fehr, best known for his long-standing career leading the Major League Baseball Players Association, began working for the hockey union in December 2010 and was quickly appointed executive director overseeing 2013 and 2020 collective bargaining.
Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman, one of 10 players on the selection committee, said the person chosen to lead the union would “take on a pretty big role in shaping the future of hockey for us.”
“The process was good,” Hyman said. “It was a lot of interviews and a lot of meetings with different candidates and a lot of chatting with the group. It has been a great process getting to know all these amazing people and figuring out who would be the best fit for us.”
That process ended up with Walsh, who emerged as the front runner from a group that included former Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis and longtime NHLPA special assistant to the executive director Mathieu Schneider.
A Bruins fan, Walsh displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport in videos he posted online during his 2014-2021 tenure as Boston’s Democratic Mayor. But it was his work experience that got him over the top.
“Marty is a proven leader with a strong union background,” said Kyle Okposo, captain of the Buffalo Sabers and a member of the Search Committee. “His energy and ability to connect with players were immediately apparent to the selection committee. We focused on exactly these qualities when we were looking for the next managing director. We look forward to the future of the NHLPA under Marty’s leadership.”
Walsh takes over at a crucial time, amid a multi-year labor truce between the NHL and the players and with the league forecasting nearly $6 billion in revenue this season. CBA negotiations are imminent as the current deal expires in 2026.
During Fehr’s tenure, NHL players competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics before the league failed to reach an agreement to send them in 2018. The league and union negotiated the conclusion of the 2019-20 season during the pandemic, which included a long-term CBA extension.
The NHLPA was already looking for a replacement when an investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks’ handling of a 2010 report of a player being sexually assaulted by a video coach and a subsequent interview with that player raised questions about what Fehr and others knew at the time and why they didn’t act. The union launched its own investigation, which found Fehr not to blame, instead citing misunderstanding and misunderstanding for the inaction.
Walsh, 55, is President Joe Biden’s first cabinet secretary to leave the country. He’s also the youngest politician to move into the sport, followed by someone Walsh has a close relationship with: former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, who will serve as NCAA president.
According to the statutes of the Ministry of Labour, Julie Su will take over as Acting Secretary.
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed.
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