NHLPA in for big changes

The NHL Players' Association apparently has about $850,000 a year to spend on a part-time ombudsman and six division player representatives, so you'd have to think it will be sparing no expense in its latest internal review.

Without a doubt, the recently formed review committee to investigate the internal operations of the NHLPA will have some very, very broad powers in its mandate. The players on the committee — Nicklas Lidstrom, Mark Recchi, Rob Blake and Chris Chelios — have a decided pro-Paul Kelly bent to them, but it's certainly no less than the anti-Kelly sentiment held by many of the people who conducted a review of Kelly's performance last summer, before he was fired.