When the NHL Players Association finally gets around to naming a new executive director, those making the decision might want to consider what happened to former Phoenix Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes and fellow investor Wayne Gretzky.

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Wayne Gretzky manages from behind the bench during his game against the St. Louis Blues on February 28, 2009 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Photograph by : Getty Images

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In Moyes' case, here was a man who stepped in to take ownership of the hockey club despite the fact it had never approached making a profit in the then 11 years of its existence, his tenure presumably fully endorsed and enthusiastically welcomed by the commissioner.

Moyes poured mountains of his own money into the failing franchise while Bettman and the owners watched him slowly drown, and when in total desperation he threw his hand in with Jim Balsille by agreeing to take the team into bankruptcy, the league guys really put the financial boots in.

Now all he has to show for some $200 million US he's poured into this franchise in his short term as owner is a mere $13.3 million to be split between he, Gretzky and the lawyers.

His partners at the NHL fought every effort he made to recoup some of his losses for their own benefit, and any owner who doesn't realize he could very well be in the same situation down the road if there is another downturn in the economy is not bright enough to be swimming with these barracudas.

And what is the reason this is instructive to the NHLPA decision makers you might ask?

Well, if the league will do this to its friends, its brethren in business, its real partners if you will, imagine what they might do to those who are considered natural foes in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations?

No matter how much people in the media might want a nice passive deal-maker to be named the new boss so that there is less chance of a work stoppage and less chance that their own revenue streams might be interrupted, it just might be that a much more strident approach is needed by the players if they are to have any hope of keeping some of the perks they presently enjoy.

It just might be that it was Bob Goodenow who had it right all along and knew exactly the type of people he was dealing with when the last round of CBA negotiations began.

And when those who would preserve their paycheques at any cost rolled Goodenow's head, they ended up getting an agreement that sets teammate against teammate while giving the players no say in how revenues might be increased.

In fact, the agreement hastily thrown together by that white flag waving paragon of virtue Ted Saskin provides very little motivation for many owners to have the slightest interest in raising revenue at all, which explains why somebody who has no clue about marketing is still in charge.

Goodenow doesn't have the slightest interest in returning. He is apparently enjoying life in northern Michigan counting the $10 million plus which the players will or have already paid him out and he's shaking his head at some of the ridiculous things that go on these days involving both the NHLPA and those who run the league.

Nobody knows how this is going to end up, but there are already big-time complaints from the membership that the group looking into the hiring of a new boss is top-heavy with high-salaried veterans near the end of their careers who wouldn't have the slightest clue about meeting the concerns of the very high number of minimum-wage players.