The NHLPA executive board has officially announced Marty Walsh as the union's new executive director.
After weeks of speculation, the inevitable has happened.
The NHLPA announced on Thursday afternoon that the executive board has unanimously approved former United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh to be named executive director.
The decision comes after a nine-month search process undertaken by a player-led selection committee to find a successor to outgoing director Donald Fehr, who held the position for nearly 13 years.
Walsh's qualifications speak for themselves.
In addition to his role as the head of the US Department of Labor, Walsh also served as the mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021 and, prior to that, spent 16 years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Walsh first rose to prominence by joining Laborers Local 223 in Boston at the age of 21 before eventually being elected as the union president. He was then named the head of Boston’s Building and Construction Trades Council in 2011, serving for two years before stepping down in 2013 to run for mayor.
“I am honored to have been selected as the Executive Director of the NHLPA. In accepting this offer I am committing to do all that I can to advocate on players’ behalf,” said Walsh in a statement released Thursday.
“My years of experience in the labor movement and in public life has taught me that the job is never about me. It’s about us. It’s about the people we serve. So I look forward to working with players and the NHLPA staff to make the NHLPA the best and most effective team we can be to advance and protect the interests of our players and their families.”
Walsh will officially take over the director role in mid-March.