The National Hockey League Players Association or NHLPA is a labour union that represents the interests of the hockey players in the National Hockey League. The legal agreement between the two organizations is called the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. The current agreement was signed in 1995 following a lockout which shortened the 1994-95 NHL season by 36 games. The CBA was initially to last for six seasons and be open to re-negotiation in 1998, but was eventually extended to last until September 15, 2004 (one day after the World Cup of Hockey final in Toronto). Another lockout has cancelled the 2004-05 NHL season, and it is not yet known when, or even if a new agreement will be signed.
The NHLPA's management is headed by the executive director who is currently Bob Goodenow, who heads an executive board of players who are respresentatives of their individual teams. Managing this board are President Trevor Linden, Vice President Bob Boughner, Vincent Damphousse, Daniel Alfredsson and Bill Guerin. The association formed in June 1967 with Alan Eagleson as its executive director but not without controversy. An earlier NHLPA had been formed in 1957 by hockey players Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings and Doug Harvey of the Montreal Canadiens after the leage had refused to release financial information but the owners broke the union by trading players involved with the organization or sending them to the minor leagues.
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