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U.S. Secretary of Labour Marty Walsh is believed to be the leading candidate to be the next executive director of the NHL Players' Association, according to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger. Dreger adds that the NHLPA board will meet on Thursday to further discuss its leadership search. Walsh, 55, was the mayor of Boston from 2014 until he resigned in 2021 to serve in U.S. President Joe Biden's Cabinet. Under the Biden Administration, he is charged with helping oversee federal rules and regulations designed to protect more than 150 million workers across the United States.

New York, NY, May. 25 (UPI) -- A $4 billion plan for control of the National Hockey League reportedly would split the league's 30 teams into three tiers based on market value. The plan has been offered by private-equity firms Bain Capital LLC and Game Plan LLC, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday quoting a person familiar with the proposal. It comes at a time when team owners and players are yet to resolve a labor dispute that canceled the 2004-05 hockey season.

March 6, 2005 -- PROPOSED: A clean slate under which negotiations for a CBA would be conducted exclusively between Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow when bargaining resumes (or perhaps more accurately, begins) within the next couple of weeks.1. A signed contract between the NHL and NHLPA guaranteeing an agreement in principle no later than May 15. Failure to consummate a CBA by that deadline would result in the dismissal of each lead negotiator. Further, failure to reach an agreement by June 1 would result in daily $1 million fines assessed against the each of the league's 30 teams and the...

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's 11 a.m. ET deadline has passed without any word if the league and players are any closer to breaking the labour stalemate threatening to wipe out the hockey season. It's unclear whether the two sides are currently negotiating. On Tuesday, Bettman delivered a "take-it-or-leave-it" final offer to the players union. The league's proposal included a $42-million US per team salary cap without "linkage." In a letter sent to NHLPA boss Bob Goodenow, Bettman said the offer was non-negotiable and if the players hadn't accepted it by 11 a.m. on Wednesday the hockey season would be cancelled....

Last-ditch effort to save the season TSN.ca Staff 2/13/2005 The NHL and NHL Players' Association secretly met with U.S. federal mediators in Washington on Sunday, The Canadian Press has learned. Sources indicated the meeting with the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was still going on as of 6 p.m. EST. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow were not in the meeting. Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and league outside counsel Bob Batterman were there with NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and union outside counsel John McCambridge. It wasn't immediately clear...

Toronto, Ontario (Sports Network) - The National Hockey League Players' Association rejected another proposal put forth by the NHL in the latest attempt at saving the season, and commissioner Gary Bettman finally looks ready to pull the plug. The two sides met secretly on Wednesday in Toronto where the league presented a new proposal, only to have it rejected rather quickly. According to TSN of Canada the NHL's latest proposal was to start play immediately using the NHLPA's proposal from December 9 until such time it became clear the proposal was not working, then the system would switch over to...

Free Stanley's mission is to make sure there are Stanley Cup playoffs this hockey season. We love the Stanley Cup playoffs and we love the Cup. We believe it is the best trophy in all of sport, and it should not be denied to the best hockey team is playing this season. If there is no NHL season the Stanley Cup should then be awarded to the best hockey team in Canada, which was Lord Stanley's original intent for the Cup. A new model for Stanley's Cup We propose that the Stanley Cup be returned to its original challenge cup...

Linden: Little hope for season By Mark Brender January 21, 2005 NHL Players’ Association president Trevor Linden is telling players to be prepared for the lockout to continue deep into next season, The Hockey News has learned. In an audio message posted on the NHLPA’s internal website last night, Linden said he sees no basis for further meetings with the league. The league is insisting the only solution to the lockout is with a hard individual team salary cap and is not prepared to compromise in any way, Linden said. According to multiple sources, Linden told players the NHL refuses...

Hockey Fan Curses Lockout from Beyond the Grave Fri Jan 21, 1:56 PM ET Oddly Enough - Reuters TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian man has cursed the heads of the National Hockey League -- from beyond the grave. Archie Bennitz, 84, an ardent hockey fan from Kanata, Ontario, near Ottawa, used his own obituary to blast NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association executive Bob Goodenow, for the lockout which has left fans without hockey this year. The obituary, published in the Ottawa Citizen, was written by Bennitz's 45-year-old son David, who took dictation at his hospital bedside. In...

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - NHL labor talks came to a halt Tuesday after each side rejected the other's proposal. The talks lasted about 3 1/2 hours with the league making a one-hour presentation on its counter-proposal, which included a salary cap, prompting the NHL Players' Association to convene for a 2 1/2 hour meeting. The union then returned to the room and ended the meeting. As expected, the NHL rejected the NHLPA's proposal, which featured an immediate 24 percent rollback of player salaries, a significant increase from the 10 percent that was rejected in September. Last Thursday's proposal did...

The NHL intends to reject the players' association's latest proposal and counter with one "consistent with our mandate," NHL executive vice president Bill Daly wrote in a Dec. 12 memorandum to all 30 member clubs. The memo was obtained by The Sports Network of Canada. The league has been seeking a system of "cost containment" throughout talks with the union on a new collective bargaining agreement. The players' association regards any connection between revenues and salaries as a salary cap and a non-starter in negotiations. While the memo does not detail what the NHL's proposal will contain, Daly writes that...