Tom Lynn is an NHLPA Certified Agent and a principal of Veritas Hockey, an agency providing representation to current and prospective professional hockey players worldwide. Mr. Lynn’s experience in participating in the scouting, selection and development of NHL prospects and managing a development team for an NHL organization, as well as negotiating hundreds of professional contracts for both the player and team sides, is unparalleled among player representatives. He has assisted many players through the college recruitment process, from analyzing opportunities to negotiating scholarships and ancillary payments, and also has guided many players with Tier 1 and major junior opportunities through the complex rules and process. He was an early pioneer in analyzing and exploiting the more restrictive NIL market for hockey players, and helped launch one of the premiere NIL service providers for hockey players
Mr. Lynn has long been an integral part of the development process for amateur players, both on and off the ice. He has a vast network of relationships from his diverse experience in hockey, including pro and amateur scouts, junior coaches, skating and skill instructors, college coaches, professional coaches, medical
specialists in hockey-specific fields, and even team owners and league executives.
Before undertaking the representation of players, his career included stints as the Assistant General Manager of the Minnesota Wild (2000 to 2009), the General Manager of the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League (2001 to 2009), representing (as an attorney) the NBA, NHL and other professional sports entities (1994 to 1999), and teaching Sports Law at St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis. He has also written a definitive book on the building and running of an NHL team; “How to Build An NHL Franchise From Scratch: The First Era of the Minnesota Wild,” and has occasionally written for The Hockey News over his career. Prior to joining the Wild, Mr. Lynn represented the NHL and other sports entities as an attorney in New York City. Believing that all agents should be practicing attorneys (and less than a quarter of certified agents currently are) in order to protect and enforce their clients’ rights, Mr. Lynn also keeps an active law practice serving as General Counsel to a diversified real estate development company.
Mr. Lynn has deep experience in how NHL teams work, and how they view and develop players. During his time with the Wild, he sat at an NHL draft table for nine years, executed dozens of player trades, negotiated hundreds of player contracts, ran a pro scouting staff, and managed the AHL Houston Aeros. He has developed extensive contacts along the way in the hockey media and among league and team executives in Junior A, Major Junior, the NCAA, the ECHL, Europe, the American Hockey League and the NHL.
As an advisor and agent, Tom Lynn has assisted players through major junior, American junior leagues, the college scouting and recruitment process, placement as free agents with NHL teams, placement with European teams as free agents, and applied his long legal experience and NHL tenure in negotiating his players’ contracts. Mr. Lynn is among the most respected contract negotiators in the business of hockey, as he changed the “Joe Thornton Model” of NHL Rookie contracts to the “Koivu Model” in 2004-05, negotiated the largest 2-year contract in NHL history for Artemi Panarin in 2016, and procured a “one-way” contract for Vegas defenseman Jimmy Schuldt after only one NHL career game played.
After all of those years of drafting, developing (and trading) players for an NHL organization, Mr. Lynn knows exactly what NHL scouts are looking for from his clients. He is known and respected throughout the amateur and professional hockey worlds, in North America and Europe. His reputation is matched only by his dedication to his clients’ interests.