Donald Fehr, the former baseball union head, is now positioning himself to take over the NHL Players’ Association. It’s an important time for the group, which has undergone considerable turmoil over the past few years, largely because of leadership issues. Labor strife looms in the NHL in the summer of 2012, and Fehr, who went toe-to-toe with Major League Baseball’s powers in the mid-90s, would not be a lightweight on the opposite side of the table from Gary Bettman. Fehr is now doing a “tour” of teams’ locker rooms, to introduce himself, ask questions, etc., in advance of a vote to see whether he will be approved as union head. Matt Greene, the Kings’ union rep, said Fehr met with the team during training camp.

GREENE: “He came and touched base with our whole team and kind of gave us the short-term plan for right now, for how the P.A. is going and how he sees himself taking over. That’s my third or fourth time talking to him, throughout the meetings and everything this summer. I’m real impressed. He has a pretty good presence about him, with his knowledge and experience, and I think that rubs off on the guys and makes the guys pretty excited about where this is going. I think everybody is real happy about him coming on board and helping us out.”