from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Walsh has the good fortune of taking over at a time of labor peace, the collective bargaining agreement between players and the league not pegged to expire until Sept. 15, 2026.

That grace period, or what Walsh terms “a learning period,” will allow him time, he noted during a phone conversation on Friday, to get to know players across the 32-team league on a meaningful, personal level and fully absorb the minutiae of the CBA before beginning talks on a new deal, ideally in the fall of 2025.

It’s that commitment to build a close connection with the players that went a long way in Walsh landing the gig. A protracted subnarrative among the players for much of Donald Fehr’s 12-year tour in office — and during prior PA administrations — was that they felt a need for closer, more direct relationship with the boss.

Walsh assured the search committee it was his intention to build that bond, a trademark of his career dating to his years in public office. He’ll be on a flight Monday morning to Los Angeles to start meeting directly with players in a number of NHL cities, building a constituency, making sure rank-and-file members have his office and cellphone numbers.

“By this time next year, I’ll be able to rattle off to you a super-majority of the players in the NHL,” he promised. “You know, not that I just represent NHL hockey players. I think a good leader of a union knows the membership not just by what they want in a contract, or [when it’s time for] collective bargaining, but who knows who they are as people, and have that relationship.

“If you understand the players, and they have confidence, first of all to know you know who they are by name, then when you are leading them, whatever the conversations might be, they’ll trust my judgment.”

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