Apr 12, 2019
NHLPA warns player agents after conflict-of-interest complaints
Union has received complaints that some player agents have been breaking rules by representing NHL coaches and general managers at the same time as they’re working for players, Rick Westhead writes.
The NHL Players’ Association has warned player agents that it will sanction any agent who breaks union rules by representing NHL coaches and general managers at the same time as they’re working for players.
The NHLPA considers simultaneously representing management and players a conflict of interest and has had a rule banning the practice since 1995.
The issue was highlighted on Apr. 2 when NHLPA lawyer Roman Stoykewych raised the subject while addressing a group of player agents in Toronto.
Stoykewych announced at that meeting that the union would begin sanctioning agents on May 1, 2020, for such conflicts. His comments created an outcry in the agent community. Some agents said Stoykewych’s comments suggested the NHLPA has been selective in choosing which rules to enforce.
On Apr. 11, Stoykewych sent an email to agents advising them there would be no grace period until May of 2020. He wrote that any agents who were found to have such a conflict would be disciplined immediately.
The NHLPA wouldn’t say why Stoykewych brought up the issue. The union also declined to say how many complaints it has received or whether it is investigating any of those claims.
“Following our recent agent meeting, the NHLPA has issued a clarification to the certified agents regarding this area of our agent regulations,” NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon wrote in an email to TSN. “The provision remains in effect and will be enforced.”
According to three people familiar with the matter, the NHLPA has been informed about multiple instances of agents allegedly breaking the union’s rules on representing NHL team management in recent months. It’s unclear how much effort the union will make to investigate those claims.
“There have been agents literally bragging to young players they are recruiting that they also happen to represent coaches and general managers and the NHLPA knows the who, where and when of this,” one agent told TSN. “The reason that the union is gun-shy about going after these guys is that [NHL executive director] Don Fehr has been under attack for the past two years. Everyone at the union is afraid to go and do or say anything for fear that Don will lose more support.”
The NHLPA has been accused of a lack of transparency by several player agents in recent years and has been forced to expend significant time and resources trying to convince players and agents to support the union’s current leadership.
The union has several options for sanctioning agents. It can issue an informal order of reprimand, issue a formal letter of reprimand that can be made public or assess a fine that would be payable to a charity selected by the NHLPA. The union can also temporarily or permanently decertify agents.
According to the NHLPA’s agent regulations, which were last amended in September 2008, agents can be decertified for engaging in any conduct “that impacts on his credibility, integrity or competence to serve in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of players.”
The regulations state that agents are prohibited from representing or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to “any officer, employee, [or] independent contractor of an NHL Club, other professional hockey club or Canadian major junior hockey club…”