Ritch Winter (born January 23, 1957 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

sports agent. Founder and former CEO of ''The Sports Corporation'', based in Edmonton, Winter currently owns ''Raze Sports'' representing around 40

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

players, including

Marian Hossa Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensland ...

Mark Giordano Mark Giordano (; born October 3, 1983) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also previously played with the Calgary Flames for fifteen seasons, where he was the tea ...

, and Tomas Tatar.

Biography

Winter received a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gr ...

from the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being inst ...

in 1983. He began his career as a sports agent in the late 1980s in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

before returning to Edmonton to launch The Sports Corporation. While in California Winter worked with sports lawyer Ted Steinberg, whose clients at that time included

Eugene Levy Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. From 1976 until 1984, he appeared in the Canadian television sketch comedy series '' SCTV''. He has also appeared in the '' American Pie'' series of films and the Canadian ...

and

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim ...

, among others. Winter played a role in the downfall of former

National Hockey League Players Association NHLPA (french: AJLNH) is the labour union for the group of professional hockey players who are under Standard Player Contracts to the 32 member clubs in the National Hockey League (NHL) located in the United States and Canada. The association rep ...

Executive Director

Alan Eagleson Robert Alan Eagleson (born April 24, 1933) is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, hockey agent and promoter. Clients that he represented included superstars Bobby Orr and Darryl Sittler, and he was the first executive director of the NHL Players Ass ...

. Along with

Herb Pinder Herbert Charles Pinder Sr., (April 26, 1923 — October 30, 2014) was a Canadian business owner, developer and political figure in Saskatchewan. He served as Minister of Industry and Information in the Saskatchewan cabinet from May 1964 to Decemb ...

and

Ron Salcer Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

, Winter helped to lead the campaign that led to Eagleson's resignation in 1992, and ultimately his conviction for defrauding his clients in 1989. In 2007, Winter helped

Chris Chelios Christos Kostas Chelios (born January 25, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was one of the longest tenured players in the National Hockey League, and is a three-time Stanley Cup champion—one with the Montreal ...

oust

Ted Saskin Ted Saskin (born ) served as the third executive director of the NHL Players Association from 2005 to 2007. He assumed the title after Bob Goodenow resigned on July 28, 2005, but was unanimously fired by the NHLPA on May 10, 2007, after a union-co ...

as NHLPA director following accusations Saskin was monitoring players' email. Winter was highly critical of the investigation into the issue by the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

. In addition to helping to bring the National Hockey League Players' Association leadership to account, Winter worked tirelessly at Carl Brewer's request to help restore retired NHL players' pension organizing an effort on behalf of Gordie Howe, Eddie Shack, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, and others, which ultimately resulted in retired players receiving $50 million from the NHL in an Ontario Court decision. Chicago's Rinkside magazine once referred to him as the game's "first player agent superstar".

References

1957 births Living people Canadian sports agents Sportspeople from Edmonton University of Calgary alumni University of Calgary Faculty of Law alumni {{Canada-sport-bio-stub