{allcanada} Report: NHLPA mulling over Fehr demands

The NHLPA is still leaderless.

A conference call Wednesday night among the NHL's 30 team player reps who comprise the union's executive board ended without a vote to officially appoint Donald Fehr as executive director, according to The New York Post.

The newspaper reports Fehr has a number of conditions for accepting the role, including:

-- A salary of $1.5 million for the remainder of this year, and $3 million per year thereafter

-- The ability to hire his brother to an executive position. Steve Fehr is currently special counsel to the MLBPA after 23 years as outside counsel to baseball's union

-- Autonomy regarding all personnel decisions within the NHLPA and the ability to live in New York

-- Permission to co-author a book about baseball with his aforementioned brother

Sources say one of the main sticking points is compensation for the hiring of both Fehr and his brother. Fehr's salary as head of MLB's union, a post he held for 27 years, was $1 million. In the last year before the NHL's lockout, Bob Goodenow earned between $3.5-4 million while in charge of the NHLPA in 2003-04.

While the role remains unfilled, the PA continues to negotiate with the league over whether Ilya Kovalchuk's contract with the Devils will be approved. According to The Post, the NHL has demanded that the union agree to significant concessions regarding future long-term contracts; otherwise it will reject the Kovalchuk deal and immediately void Roberto Luongo's recent contract with the Vancouver Canucks, as well as investigate other similar contracts.

A source told Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos, however, the league has given the NHLPA no such ultimatum.

The agreed upon deadline for the NHL to approve or reject the current 15-year, $100-million deal for Kovalchuk that was submitted last week is 5 p.m. Friday.

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