National Hockey League Players' Association legal counsel, Matt Nussbaum, has resigned for personal reasons.
Nussbaum, who was heavily involved in most NHLPA legal matters including player representation in supplemental discipline hearings and NHLPA grievances, will be joining the Major League Baseball Players' Association in New York.
''To be leaving the NHLPA is truly bittersweet,'' Nussbaum siad. ''I have greatly enjoyed and consider myself very lucky to have served as the Players' counsel, and with Don on board as the executive director, I whole-heartedly believe the union is on the verge of an overwhelmingly positive chapter in its history.''
This move will allow the highly regarded young lawyer to spend more time with his family.
''Moving over to the MLBPA is an exciting opportunity, and will allow my immediate family to relocate closer to our extended family.''
This past summer, Nussbaum handled the Ilya Kovalchuk case following the NHL's rejection of his original contract with the New Jersey Devils.
Nussbaum was recruited by and hired by former 'PA executive director Paul Kelly from Chicago's largest law firm, Jones Day, where he was a practicing trial lawyer and according to Kelly, considered a rising star.
Nussbaum was one of Kelly's first hires, along with highly respected forensic accountant Bob Lindquist, who resigned when Kelly was fired by the Players' executive board in August, 2009.
Nussbaum, who remained on with the 'PA after Kelly's dismissal, is among the last of Paul Kelly's inner-circle to leave the NHLPA, joining Glenn Healy, Pat Flatley and Lindquist as former union executives.