Exclusive: NHLPA Boss Marty Walsh Reacts To Olympics, 'Tough Luck' With NHL Injuries

Marty Walsh has been a low-key but fierce advocate for NHL players since he took over as executive director of the NHL Players Association in February 2023.

The former U.S. Secretary of Labor and former mayor of Boston quickly acclimated to his new role three years ago and oversaw a swift, pain-free negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement in 2025.

The new CBA agreement eliminated the player dress code, extended the NHL's commitment to Olympic participation through 2030, increased minimum salaries and more. And it seems Walsh has largely worked with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman without any apparent acrimony.

TheHockeyNews.com interviewed Walsh Wednesday morning, discussing a slew of hockey topics that included NHL players putting on a great show at the 2026 Winter Olympics. We asked Walsh about that experience, as well as a number of other topics of relevance right now.

Here's the first part of our interview, edited for brevity and clarity. Stay tuned for Part 2 later this week for discussion about NHL expansion and new rules in the CBA.

The Hockey News: Regarding the Olympic experience – it was your first time being part of that process. Did it live up to expectations for you?
Did it exceed expectations?

Marty Walsh: You know, it certainly lived up to expectations. I had a chance to talk to a lot of the players, and up before the final rounds, everyone was having a great time and enjoying the experience. 

Overall, players are still very satisfied with the opportunity to play in the Olympics, knowing that there's another one coming in 2030, with potential to play in that one as well. The overall experience was good. There's always things you can work on and improve on, but you know, I wouldn't say there's anything that is a deal breaker (where) we have to rethink our position on the Olympics.

THN: Next question is about growing the game in Europe. Obviously, you were just there with the Olympics. How productive do you think these trips have been for the league and the players? 

MW: Certainly in my time, having the 4 Nations (Face-Off) tournament in Boston and Montreal and games in Europe… It's exciting for hockey, and it's exciting for the fans. 

And I think having those best-on-best competitions is key, but also the (NHL's) Global Series, having games in European countries, Helsinki and Prague and Stockholm and places like that – those games are sold out, and they're coming to see NHL players play. So those are hockey countries in a lot of ways, and they're excited about it.

There's a lot of young kids playing and living in those countries and playing hockey that have dreamed someday, potentially playing, whether it's in the local league or in the NHL. So I think it's good for hockey on a whole bunch of different levels. And I think it's also great for fans. And it's great for the players as well, experiencing international opportunities to see what it's like to play in other countries.

THN: The next question has to do with player injuries. There's a lot of players who've been hurt this season. I don't know if that's because of the condensed schedule or not, but would an earlier start next season result in fewer hurt players, do you think? 


MW: I just think, you know, we've had some tough luck. The last time I checked, a lot of the injuries weren't the typical groin (injuries) and things like that. There were different injuries. But obviously, we want to do everything we can to prevent players from getting hurt and being out extended periods of time. We want to do the best we can.

With the condensed schedule, I think you're obviously concerned about injury, but we're also concerned about the mental aspect of it. It means a lot of hockey in a short period of time. You know, there's a lot of stress. When you look at the standings, it's become a very competitive league every year. 

Our concern in the PA is the physical well-being of our players, but also the mental well-being of players. So, next season, we will go back to a bit of, I don't know what you want to call it – normalcy. We'll have an all-star break, and we won't have 4 Nations, we won't have a World Cup. We won't have an Olympics. So we'll be able to look at the schedule and maybe try and be a little working with the league and be a little creative on it.

THN: I know you mentioned mental health a little bit. It does feel like over the years, everybody's been progressive in terms of how they approach that issue, and you see players now that take advantage of the Players' Association and the league's initiatives. How much progress do you think you've seen in your relatively short time with the union? 

MW: We have a program called First Line that Dr. Jay Harrison, former NHL player, runs for us. It's going into meeting with teams and talking to players and teams to see the signs of mental struggle that (players) might have. 


When you think about mental struggle, mental health struggle, it's not just hockey players; it's the world. It's (part of) society.

We need to do collectively a better job of mental health treatment. It doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be medically treated or institutionalized; you just need to be able to let people talk about the struggles they're going through. Because, you know, the season is long. You're away from your family. You're away from your homeland in some cases. 


So, I mean, I think it's really important for us that we continue to invest in those areas and make sure that people understand that these programs are there to help.

You saw tremendous amounts of numbers – I think one out of every three people in the United States, at least during COVID, was struggling with some type of mental stress. That's a lot of people.
So we need to make sure that we have programs set up to help those folks. And as the head of the Players' Association, I want to make sure we have programs – and we do – to help our players and their families if they need it.

THN: Changing course – in the next CBA, with a longer season and a shorter pre-season starting next year, how do you see NHL players benefiting from this change? 

MW: There's a couple things. No. 1, having 84 games allows us to have more fans and more opportunities to see a game. I think that that's important. It allows us the opportunity to do a lot. 

On the revenue side and getting more fans in the seats and things like that, I think it's important.

But, you know, my concern with the 84 games was wear-and-tear on the player's body. And when we had the negotiation, clearly, we cut the pre-season down from eight games to four. And the training camp went from 21 days down to 13 days. 


These players, for the most part, when the season ends, they might take a week or two off, and then they're back on the ice. They're on the ice all summer long, and so they're in incredible shape.

Talking to some of the older players and people who used to play before, like, they used to take the summer off. But these guys are constantly working and training. So you want to reduce the wear and tear on the body. And I think that there's an opportunity here.

As we continue to move forward here, if we see a problem in the future, we'll address it. But this was a proposal the league wanted.

THN: Overall, what gains or wins do you see for players in the new labor deal? 

MW: I'm not looking at it that way. The fact that we were able to reach an agreement without any losses on behalf of the players, I think that's a win. But I mean, there was a lot of chatter in the world about lockouts and things like that that never ever came up as a topic.

It shouldn't come up as a topic, quite honestly. If you keep a relationship going with both sides, as long as both sides are talking to each other and able to keep that open relationship, I think that's important.

The win for the players is that we're really focused on the business aspect of it, of growing the game and the international growth of the game. So I think a lot of the wins for the players is coming out of collective bargaining as well.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of TheHockeyNews.com's interview with Marty Walsh.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.