Defenseman Andrew Ference was the Lead Player Behind the Firing of Kelly

Toronto Star reporter Damien Cox is reporting today that defenseman Andrew Ference was the main player behind the firing of Paul Kelly.

At the top of the union’s unwieldy, multi-headed new power structure sits the 30-player executive council, of which the executive director – Kelly until last week – acts as chairman. But Ference was identified by multiple sources as the loudest voice in the room in Chicago, the player who pushed hardest for a vote on Kelly’s dismissal in the early hours of the morning against the wishes of veteran players like Chris Chelios. By a 22-5 vote, Kelly was terminated.Cox also mentions that the main reason that the players fired Kelly, the acquisition of private meeting minutes, was brought to the attention of the players by Kelly himself. Kelly told the players that he saw the minutes after he found out that general counsel Ian Kelly received a five year contract during that meeting, a meeting that Kelly should have been apart of.