Paul Kelly out as head of NHL players' union

Paul Kelly is out as executive director of the NHL Players' Association, after a review produced a list of issues players had with his leadership.

The union announced at its annual meeting Monday that the executive board "overwhelmingly" voted to remove Kelly, who held the job for less than two years. The executive board is made up of one player from each of the 30 teams.

The union didn't give a specific reason for Kelly's immediate removal.

"I don't think you can point to any one (issue) and I'm not prepared to name one," said Buzz Hargrove, the interim ombudsman for the NHLPA. "People had lost confidence that Paul was the one" to lead the union.

Kelly was not available for comment.

NHLPA general counsel Ian Penny will serve as the interim executive director while the association puts together a search committee to identify potential candidates. Penny is thought to be a contender for the job.

The new executive director will be the fourth in five years, and take over at a critical juncture for the union. The post-lockout collective bargaining agreement expires in September 2011, although the NHLPA has an option to extend it for one year.

Another issue to reconcile will be Olympic participation. The NHL is leaning against having players involved after the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, while many players want to continue playing at the Olympics.

"The easy thing to do as an executive board would have been to continue with Paul Kelly as our executive director," the board said in a statement. "That would have been the best option from a short term, public relations standpoint. ... But this isn't about public relations and the executive board had to make the decision we made in the best interests of our membership."

Kelly, a Boston lawyer, represented Marty McSorley when the former NHL defenseman was charged with assault with a weapon by Vancouver authorities after he hit Donald Brashear in the head with a stick.

Kelly took over for Ted Saskin, who left the job in May 2007 amid allegations of monitoring players' e-mail. Saskin had taken over when Bob Goodenow stepped down under pressure from the players on July 28, 2005, only two weeks after a CBA was signed to end the lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.

The first sign of discontent came in February, when former star player Eric Lindros resigned as the association's ombudsman and sent a letter to members detailing his grievances with Kelly. There were also reports that the executive committee broke its own rules by extending Penny's contract without consulting Kelly.

Hargrove said that following union discussions in Chicago last year, a committee was formed at a meeting in Las Vegas in June to review Kelly's leadership. The committee's findings were debated in Chicago and the board opted to proceed with the firing.

Hargrove said the turnover of executive directors should not be considered a sign of instability, rather as proof that management is closely watched by the players and that "you'd better do things as they say, not yourself."