Marty Walsh won’t take over as executive director of the NHL Players’ Association until mid-March, but his new constituency is eager to meet him.
The NHLPA on Thursday named the 55-year-old former Boston mayor to its highest office. The Dorchester native will step down as US secretary of labor.
“I am committing to do all that I can to advocate on players’ behalf,” Walsh said in a statement released by the NHLPA. “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, who was unanimously approved by the NHLPA’s 32-member executive board (which includes the Bruins’ Brandon Carlo), did not mention hockey in a Thursday email to Department of Labor employees. He said he was grateful to work for President Biden — “the most pro-worker and pro-union President and administration in our nation’s history,” he wrote — and was closing that chapter of his career “with a deeper understanding of why working people are the heart and soul and strength of our nation.”
He went on to add, “In my travels across this country, I have been moved and inspired by workers, students, and apprentices at every kind of job.”
According to The Daily Faceoff, Walsh will draw a salary of approximately $3 million. Donald Fehr, the 74-year-old current NHLPA executive director, is believed to be making $3.5 million a year. He has held the post since 2010.
Walsh, a former Massachusetts state representative, was elected mayor of Boston in 2014 and held that position until March 2021, when Biden selected him to be labor secretary. He was confirmed by the Senate by a 68–29 vote.
In that role, Walsh injected himself into last winter’s Major League Baseball labor dispute, calling both sides to urge them to return to the table after the owners locked out the players.
The current NHL collective bargaining agreement is not due to expire until after the 2025-26 season, so Walsh is not walking into any current dispute. However, there are thorny issues ahead, such as the growth of the game, possible adjustments to the current 50-50 split of revenues between the league and players, player health and safety, and international competition.
“Talking to my clients who were involved in the process and others around it, Marty was clearly the top choice,” said Wellesley-based agent Matt Keator. “The players were really excited by him and his vision and how he wants to move forward.”
Keator, who represents members of the selection committee (the Jets’ Nate Schmidt) and executive board (the Rangers’ Adam Fox and Islanders’ Scott Mayfield, both alternate player reps), as well as assistant to the executive director Ron Hainsey, said players were hopeful Walsh would ready the players for the next CBA negotiation in 2026 and strengthen marketing.
“I think a lot of people feel the individual players are not marketed to optimization,” said New York-based agent George Bazos, whose clients include the Flyers’ Cam Atkinson. “Fans want content. They want to know the players. They love when they’re miked up. They love to see what they’re doing on their off days. They love to watch them walk into the arena and see what they’re wearing. Anything you can do to get fans more involved and increase revenue, if it’s not the most important job, it’s right up there.”
As mayor, Walsh had two unsuccessful forays into sports, hitching his wagon to both the city’s 2024 Summer Olympics bid and its efforts to hold an IndyCar race in the Seaport. He will be involved in future negotiations to send NHL players to the Olympics, which hasn’t happened since the 2014 Winter Games.
Walsh is no stranger to the owners’ side. In 2017, Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and his three sons donated $13,000 to Walsh’s campaign committee. And while mayor, Walsh had extensive dealings with Fenway Sports Group, owners of the Red Sox and Fenway Park. In November 2020, FSG became the principal owner of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Walsh is the second Massachusetts politician in recent months to jump into the sports world. Former governor Charlie Baker was named president of the NCAA in December.
One of Walsh’s first tasks as NHLPA chief will be to connect with nearly 1,000 workers — some 864 skaters and 91 goalies have competed in games this season — and determine how to put more money in their pockets. Players, who earn a minimum of $750,000 annually and an average salary of more than $3 million, pay $30 a day in union dues during the October-to-April regular season.
The players receive half of the NHL’s hockey-related revenues, a catch-all term that includes gate receipts, broadcast rights fees, merchandise, concessions, ad sales, parking costs, and other promotional fees. Commissioner Gary Bettman said in June that HRR were back to pre-pandemic levels and expected to exceed $5.2 billion.
Because revenues plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the salary cap upper limit remained flat ($81.5 million) from 2019-20 to 2021-22, before rising by $1 million for this season. The league projected the cap to climb by another $1 million next season, to $87.5 million in 2024-25, and to $92 million in 2025-26.
At the All-Star Game in South Florida this month, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league expected no change in those projections.
Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on BlueSky at mattyports.bsky.social.