NHLPA Dir. will be fired today

Ted Saskin, the embattled NHLPA Executive Director, will be fired today with cause according to ESPN.

If player reps decide to fire Saskin with cause, it means Saskin will not be paid the estimated $6 million remaining on his contract.

In March, union representatives from the 30 NHL teams voted to have Saskin and NHLPA senior director Ken Kim placed on paid leaves of absence, effective immediately. The vote was prompted by allegations that Saskin ordered the monitoring of NHLPA player e-mails. The e-mail system the players use is administered by the union.

In the ensuing months, the union's executive board retained outside counsel to address the allegations made against Saskin and Kim to determine whether they have grounds to dismiss them from future compensation.

Saskin has said no illegal activity has gone on at the NHLPA.

The thing that really sours me on this is that Saskin got to negotiate employee contract not with a lawyer, but with Canuck Trevor Linden. He got a fat paycheck and a nice benefits package, (in fact more then his counterpart at MLB makes) and the players will have to find another Exec. Dir before the ink dried on the last contract.

Thanks to Nicole for the tip!