Sources: Marty Walsh will be installed as next Executive Director of NHL Players’ Association

Frank Seravalli
Frank Seravalli(frank_seravalli)
Sources: Marty Walsh will be installed as next Executive Director of NHL Players’ Association

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Sitting U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh will be formally installed as the next Executive Director of the NHL Players’ Association in the coming days following Tuesday night’s State of the Union address by President Joe Biden, sources tell Daily Faceoff.

Walsh was unable to leave his government post until after attending the president’s annual joint-session speech in Congress. Walsh, 55, was presented as the NHLPA search committee’s top choice for the job during an executive board meeting held in Miami last Friday.

The former Mayor of Boston introduced himself virtually via Zoom to the 32-member executive board, which then green-lit Walsh to move to the next stage of the process, including negotiating an employment contract. Walsh is expected to earn in the range of $3 million U.S. annually and live in Boston with no requirement to move to Toronto, where the Players’ Association is headquartered.

A formal executive board vote will follow in the coming days, requiring at least 18 ‘yes’ votes among the 32-team player representatives, but that is a formality as Walsh is expected to be unanimously approved. An official announcement of Walsh’s appointment could come before the end of the week.

That will culminate a 10-month search for Donald Fehr’s replacement and represent the first peaceful transition of power in the union’s 56-year history. Upwards of 10 current NHL players participated on the search committee, which was steered by executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates.

The NHLPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Last week, the PA acknowledged in a statement only that “the process is getting closer to completion.”

Walsh emerged as a candidate for the position only within the last three weeks. Sources indicated Russell Reynolds was rebuffed by Walsh over multiple attempts to include him earlier in the process, but Walsh had a change of circumstance once he was not selected as Biden’s next chief of staff, one of the most powerful positions in Washington.

Walsh will become the first Executive Director of the NHLPA without a legal background. The Dorchester, Mass., native dropped out of college and completed his Bachelor of Arts in social science from Boston College in 2009 at the age of 42 by taking night classes. He joined the Laborers’ Union in Boston at age 21, served as the union’s president, was elected the Massachusetts state legislature while also being head of the Boston Building Construction and Trades Council.

Walsh became a Bruins season-ticket holder almost immediately after joining the Laborers’ Union. He has publicly acknowledged on multiple occasions that he was thrown out of a Bruins game in 1995 for excessive alcohol consumption, an event that ultimately led him on a journey to recovery. Walsh began his 2016 speech at the Democratic National Convention by saying: “My name is Marty Walsh and I’m an alcoholic.”

Walsh served two terms as Boston mayor from 2014-2021, until resigning to join Biden’s cabinet. It remains to be seen what changes, if any, Walsh will make to the NHLPA’s cabinet. For now, the union’s top level executives – including special assistant Mathieu Schneider, general counsel Don Zavelo and assistant Ron Hainsey – are expected to remain at their posts. Former player agent and Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis, believed to be a finalist for Walsh’s new job, is also expected to be retained as a consultant.

The NHL has closely monitored the NHLPA’s search process from afar. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged on Saturday that he met Walsh “a number of times” while in office as mayor of Boston, but offered no further comment on the search.

When reports of Walsh’s candidacy first emerged last week, he was immediately linked to Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, who made multiple donations to Walsh’s political campaigns. The Jacobs Family also organized fundraisers for Walsh’s campaigns through their Delaware North companies where untold monies went into Walsh’s coffers. That information appeared to catch the search firm Russell Reynolds by surprise, sources said, which raised questions about the depth of the firm’s vetting process.

The optics of those donations are less than savory. While many wealthy families routinely support political candidates, Jacobs is the long-standing chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors and is widely regarded as the most powerful owner in the league – the exact power that Walsh will now be asked to attempt keep in check as head of the union.

“I’m honored that the Jacobs family is supporting me,” Walsh told the Boston Globe in 2017. “They’ve done incredible work in the city.”

Walsh will also attempt to cajole internal interest in a union membership that has been mostly apathetic in the 11-year reign of outgoing executive director Fehr, outside of the four-month lockout enacted by owners in 2012-13. The NHLPA voted to begin a search for his replacement last April after Fehr failed to come to grips with a succession plan.

Now, while Walsh enters at a time of relative labor peace with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement not expiring until 2026, his first mission on the job will involve negotiating the NHLPA out of flat salary cap environment that has frozen wages since the beginning of the pandemic. That comes at a time that Bettman is also beginning to get heat from owners who are ready to see rise in the cap after three stagnant seasons while players repaid a $1.1 billion debt.

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