Former player Trent Klatt speaks out about Ted Saskin, post-lockout union

Adam Proteau
2008-11-12 09:57:00

In his first post-lockout interview, retired NHLer and NHL Players’ Association executive committee member Trent Klatt told The Hockey News how betrayed he felt after discovering that former NHLPA executive director Ted Saskin and another union official hacked into players’ personal email accounts.

“It was like I got kicked in the balls, pardon my French,” Klatt told THN for a story that will appear in the Dec. 1st issue of the magazine. “To think they’re hacking into my emails in my house, in Northern Minnesota, and reading everything…there are just lines you don’t cross, and I never imagined that would take place. I still can’t believe it.

“At the time Ted first took over, that wasn’t something I thought was possible. But he just brought it on himself.”

After the lockout ended, Klatt and his former agent (and former NHLer) Neil Sheehy were among the first – along with Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, Thrashers blueliner Mathieu Schneider and retired star Eric Lindros – to openly challenge the controversial manner in which Saskin rose to replace Bob Goodenow as NHLPA boss.

Stepping up and speaking out wasn’t easy for Klatt, whose emotions had been put through the ringer during the tumultuous lockout. But to his credit, he recognized he had a duty to rank-and-file players who had put their trust in him.

“Throughout the whole lockout, I kept thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” said Klatt, 37, who now lives in Grand Rapids, Minn. “But as soon as (Saskin’s hiring) happened at the end of July and early August, it dawned on me: there was a reason why I was here with the PA, and this was it.”

For the full story on Klatt and his union experiences, be sure to pick up the Dec. 1st issue when it hits newsstands next week.