The OHL Has Taken the Flint Firebirds Away from Ownership

New statement from #OHL Commissioner David Branch - Immediate Sanctions for Flint Firebirds: https://t.co/65zy3qtxjQ pic.twitter.com/whfIqOocja
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) February 18, 2016

On November 8, Rolf Nilsen, the owner of the Flint Firebirds, a junior hockey team in the OHL, fired his entire coaching staff, reportedly because his son, Hakon Nilsen, was not getting enough playing time. Nilsen re-hired the staff, including head coach John Gruden and assistant Dave Karpa, one day later after the players went on strike to protest the move.

On Wednesday, Nilsen fired most of the coaching staff again. This time, according to a parent, the players were told the team felt they could not make the playoffs under Gruden and Karpa. In response, the Ontario Hockey League has indefinitely suspended Nilsen from hockey operations, as well as "his appointees on the management and coaching staff, including Sergei Kharin."

The OHL has also directed the team to provide for counseling services for the Flint players and their families. It's tough to get a read on what exactly this all means, but it's fair to say that the players, many of them teenagers, and their families have gone through an incredibly uncertain past few months.

As you can see in the statement above, the OHL is concerned about "the health and well being" of the players, and lays it all on Nilsen's feet. "The recent actions by the owner of the Flint Firebirds Rolf Nilsen and his representatives on the management team and coaching staff is of great concern as they pose a serious threat to our commitment to our players and their families."

As one Firebird's parent showed, it also poses a problem for the league, logistically. After Gruden and Karpa were fired for the second time, Michael Bitten, father of 17-year-old Firebirds center Will Bitten, told The Hockey News his son would probably not return to the team next year unless something changed. In fact, Will wanted to leave the team immediately, but was advised by his agent to finish out the season. Bitten's father also speculated that many other players might not return. You can't really run a league if one of your teams is so out of control that it simply disbands. "Surely they have to take this team away from that man," he said and it appears that is what they did.

[Detroit Free Press]