Page 65 of The Tryout

Could he be available for a call at 4 PM Central?

Avery Lawson 12:21 PM

Of course.

Just have him call this number.

That taken care of, I start drafting a letter, pulling out my old school laptop and setting up at the dining room table. I sort of wish my Target shopping spree had included a desk, but at this point I’m not going to press my luck.

I send Finn off to his room to gather together everything he’s got from this agent – contracts, emails, phone bills with call logs, the works. It takes him a bit, especially since his phone is the only device he has to work from. I give him my email address, and soon I start to get notifications of the documents coming in.

While he works on that, I try to find any trace of this agent online, with no luck; that’s probably not a good sign. Next, I dig into AHL policies around agents. In school, I’d studied the collective bargaining agreements in all four major American professional sports, and the NHL’s specifically lays out expectations of agents – a bachelor’s degree, a review of the agent’s background, and a rigorous complaint process.

I head to the NHLPA Certified Agent Directory and am disappointed to find no Steve Wilson listed.

Shit. That’s not good news. If Wilson’s not a certified NHL agent, it’s probably because he can’t be – either he’s missing an important qualifier…or he was already subject to a successful complaint.

Our curriculum didn’t focus as much on the policies around AHL agents, so I start to dig into that. It looks like the PHPA doesn’t have quite so many protections for players, but at the same time, most of the AHL-focused agents I find seem to follow the same basic guidelines as the NHL, even if they technically don’t have to — probably in the hopes of keeping them signed once they make it big.

As I parse through the collective bargaining agreement, I pick up my phone, almost without thought. After three rings, I start to suspect I won’t get through, but I finally hear a click and Pops’ voice on the other end.

“Avery? Everything ok?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Do you have a minute? I know it’s the middle of the workday but I’ve got a legal question for you.”

I hear him take a deep breath.

“I thought you said everything was ok.”

Oh. Right. Legal questions are not, typically, something you want your 24-year-old kid to have.

“Oh, no, it’s about my roommate’s contract.”

I can hear his deep sigh of relief.

“Shoot. Actually, do you want to switch to Zoom? I can have Sean bump my meeting with the interns; they’re finally settling in ok.”

I agree, hanging up the call and opening the link he sends me. While I wait for him to connect, I walk back toward Finn’s room.

“Hey, I’m gonna jump on a video call with my Pops about a few questions – just didn’t want you surprised when you come back out, ok?”

He looks up, a little startled, from the nest of papers he’s made himself.

“Avery, you really don’t have to-”

I cut him off before he can take the thought any further.

“Finn. I want to. And he does, too, okay?”

He bites his lower lip and I find myself tempted to kiss the spot where his teeth dig in.

Maybe later.

Back in the kitchen, I hear Pops join the meeting and hurry to sit down.

“So what’s up? Your roommate ok?”

I give him a brief rundown of what we’ve figured out – the poorly managed negotiation, the lack of online presence, the fact that the guy wouldn’t even legally be able to negotiate an NHL contract if it came to that. As I go on, his face turns serious.