It's a Fehr fight

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NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr pontificates at the mike, flanked by several of the league’s elite players. (CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The uniqueness of NHL Players' Association executive director Donald Fehr is he's a union guy with a CEO presence.

One of the regular comments players make about Fehr is if they had a business, they would want him running it. He just seems like someone who would be equally adept at running a company as representing the company's employees.

"When he walks into a room, he's in complete control," NHL player agent Tom Laidlaw said. "He just looks like a guy who knows who he is and what he is about."

As the NHL lockout heads into its eighth day, players aren't sure what will happen next. But they are sure Fehr, with more than 30 years' experience at the MLB Players Association, is the right man to lead them.

"(He's) a big reason why we will be much stronger than we were in the lockout situation (in 2004-05)," Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. "With all the leadership issues we've had over the last 10 years, he's been able to stabilize it and turn it around very quickly."

In the 2004-05 lockout, the final analysis was that personalities became too big an issue. It's not Fehr's style to make it personal with whomever is sitting across the bargaining table.

"Any time you are in a negotiation, much less a long one that has difficult moments or one that ends up with a dispute like you have now, you always have moments when tempers flare," Fehr said. "Gary Bettman has a job to do. He has constituents. I have a job to do. I have constituents. I choose to approach this on a professional basis and not to take things personally. There is no reason to take them personally. I hope they feel the same way."

Bob Goodenow was the NHLPA executive director during the last lockout, and Ted Saskin, Ian Penny and Paul Kelly all had tours of duty over the next three years. The union looked in disarray after Kelly was ousted in 2009.

"First and foremost, Don is about inclusion," player agent Steve Bartlett said. "He wants players involved. My sense with (Goodenow) was that he thought it was too big of a group to keep under control. He was more of the small-committee type of guy. Don's attitude is that everyone is welcome at negotiations. He thinks the more we have, the better."

The last NHLPA meeting drew 283 players to New York.

"He talks with a lot of guys," Nashville Predators defenceman Hal Gill said. "It's not just his group of guys he talks to. He never gets heated... He knows that this isn't going to be handled emotionally."

Players say there is a "wow" factor about Fehr, partly because of the reputation he gained in the baseball world and partly because he can handle any question thrown at him.

"He is so knowledgeable that he can look at almost any issue and get a grasp on it," said Winnipeg Jets defenceman Ron Hainsey, a member of the negotiating team.

Fehr, born in Indiana and raised in Kansas, had always been a casual fan of the NHL, dating to his college days at Indiana when he had Chicago-area friends who were Blackhawks fans. He also had gone to a number of New Jersey Devils games with the late former owner John McMullen, whom he had known from McMullen's ownership of the Houston Astros.

"He was somebody I had a lot of respect for, and I think the feeling was mutual," Fehr said.

In hindsight, he said he thought he had a good appreciation of the athleticism and skill that players had.

"As it turned out, I had wildly underestimated what it takes to play in this league," he said. "It is really remarkable when you see it up close... I've come to have an enormous appreciation for the game."

After he came over from baseball, Fehr would often tell the news media he needed to get caught up on the nuances of the sport. "He would self-deprecate himself when he didn't need to," Hainsey said. "He made it a priority and got caught up quickly."

He has an advantage that helps him. "I think he has a photographic memory," said player agent Pat Brisson, who represents Sidney Crosby. "When he starts to tell you stories, he has the date and every detail."

There wasn't much Fehr didn't see in negotiations when he was the MLBPA executive director for 26 years. He was involved in three work stoppages, and the average player salary increased from $289,000 to $3.4 million.

He was widely criticized by Congress and baseball owners for the union's resistance to drug testing. He insists he didn't realize the extent of steroid use in baseball. He permitted players to submit to an anonymous survey test for steroid use in 2003, but the results were not eradicated before the government stepped in and some names of positive tests were subsequently leaked, such as those of Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa.

"Although we have had our differences," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement, "I have always respected his role."

Steve Fehr, the NHLPA special counsel, says his brother is very relaxed, even in these stalemated negotiations with NHL owners.

"Don has been through a number of things like these, and so have I," Steve Fehr said. "We all change as we accumulate experience, wisdom and age... There are a lot of similarities (to the MLB labour-contract wars). In some ways, it's sort of old hat. Yet it's fresh and new at the same time. That's what makes it so interesting."

Donald Fehr said he decided to help the players because they were willing to help themselves. He has been impressed with their involvement.

Players say the information flow while he has been in command has been remarkable. Players have been given an application for their smartphones that allows them to download the latest negotiation news available.

"With Don, you can always be informed as you want to be," said Montreal Canadiens captain Brian Gionta.

But no one on the NHLPA side will be more informed than Fehr, who is known for his high level of preparation.

"I don't think I've ever seen a person analyze complex legal theories and present them in terms that everyone can understand," said player agent Allan Walsh. "Don's an outside-the-box creative thinker. He's constantly challenging you to look at issues from a unique perspective. He speaks with the players, not down to them. NHL players now have the greatest sports union leader in the history of professional sports working for them."

One of Fehr's objectives was to make sure that European players were getting information with the same level of efficiency as players in North America this summer.

"He really wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page, regardless of what time zone you're in," said Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall.

-- USA Today

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 23, 2012 A1