from Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal at The Sporting News,

If negotiations between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association for a new labor deal go off the rails, Steve Fehr, the union’s special counsel and younger brother of NHLPA executive director Don Fehr, could be the guy behind the scenes who gets things back on track.

History shows he’s done it before.

“I have always regarded Steve to be a positive force in our negotiations,” said Rob Manfred, executive vice president of economics and league affairs for Major League Baseball, who has sat across the bargaining table from Fehr multiple times in the last two decades. “He was extremely helpful in getting a deal in ’96, ’02 and ’06.”

Fehr, 60, was hired as special counsel to the NHLPA in 2010 at the same time his brother Don, who ran the MLB Players Association for 25 years, was hired as NHLPA executive director. Although Don Fehr retired from the MLBPA in 2009 prior to taking his new job leading the hockey players’ union, Steve Fehr, who is 3 1/2 years younger than Don, continued to work for the MLBPA as special counsel and still does so today.

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