Bettman is the best thing to ever happen to the NHL. People say that he ruined hockey don't understand how fundamentally bad the league was run in the decades preceding him. It was a complete old boys' network even far worse than now. Hardly any exposure in the US & competitive imbalance that would be unheard of in today's pro sporting scene. Consider at one point the Montreal Canadiens had exclusive rights to players within a 50-mile radius of Montreal. That is how they were able acquire & maintain NHL legends such as Béliveau, the Richard brothers, Lafleur, etc. To call it backwater would be giving it credit. You actually had a situation whereby James Norris not only owned the Red Wings but had significant financial stakes in the Black Hawks & Rangers simultaneously. It resisted expanding beyond 6 teams for decades & had to be drug kicking & screaming into an expansion to head off an upstart Western Hockey League. Those were not the golden days of hockey. After Bettman came on board, yes, there were labor issues. Name one league out there that didn't have those. Yes, there were questionable team footprint moves, but again, every league struggles with that. The point is the league went into areas it didn't go before & created new fans. It created a deeper talent pool. It is now on US TV. It has a sizeable footprint across North America. Sure, the game can be improved, but it is light years ahead of where it used to be.
I don't think you are making a fair assessment here. First for all the people who criticize the Quebec rule which allowed the Canadiens to prosper in the 50 and 60s don't ever talk about Bobby Orr being signed as an underaged player, by virtue of the Bruins agreeing to stucco his parents house. Seems like a lot of teams would have liked to have drafted a player the calibre of Orr but that wasn't possible. For all the success the Canadiens had pre expansion no team has won more Stanley Cups post expansion, and it was in the days when star Quebec players were being drafted throughout the league. Fault GMs who didn't know the value of a 1st round pick in those days.
As for what Gary Bettman accomplished, it's hard to say when you don't know how much owners who hired him had pull on the league's makeup.
Certainly the Anaheim expansion, which was done without any process, was at the behest of Bruce Mc Nall, who later became famous for conspiracy and fraud. And while that process was done before Gary actually became commissioner, Gary had a working relationship with Michael Eisner, from Disney, as the NBA vice president. So I think that was part of the process, behind the scenes. Bringing Disney into the league was a big deal at the time. 3 years later, 2 more markets closer to L.A are in the league too. As a Winnipeg fan, I sure would have liked to remain in the Norris in the 80s, because that caused a lot of financial trouble in travel for our ownership, but somebody in the league thought moving a franchise from Colorado to New Jersey, giving metropolitan New York 3 out of 21 markets, was a good idea.
As commissioner he grew the game in the U.S., there is no argument anywhere. It didn't hurt his cause when New York and New Jersey won Stanley Cups in his 2nd and 3rd year. Great for the folks at ESPN, and his backyard.
The landscape of the NHL changed significantly when the league moved to have all salaries in US dollars. A weak Canadian economy made for some serious franchise difficulties, which led to two relocations. At the same time arenas were being built all across the U.S with the federal infrastructure money available. No such option was available North of the border.
I'll give him credit for helping to save the Alberta franchises. I think he knew how important they were to the league. And in both cases ownership wasn't in question.
He had some serious blunders, like the Isles being sold to John Spano.
I don't think expansion was particularly well thought out.
The division were atrocious.
How someone thought having Minnesota and Vancouver, or Dallas and Los Angeles in the same divisions was a good idea is beyond me. The South division in the East didn't have any traction either.
As a traditionalist, I really miss the integrity of the game. It was entertaining and affordable before Bettman. It didn't just operate in the sphere of the highest bidding cable company either, and regional blackouts. It wasn't about maximizing revenues, but entertainment. I preferred the white boards to the digital ads, that's for sure. The sound of the organ. Rinks with nuances. Old time hockey.
The draft lottery saved the Penguins, just like being bad enough to get Mario, across two different eras. I just recently read that in the 80s there was an offer to move the Pens to Hamilton, where Harold Ballard's son would be part owner, but that deal fell through on account of Hamilton's city council. Certainly before Bettman American franchises were more consistently on the verge of bankruptcy or relocation.
I don't particularly like the lottery, because it seems to favour certain franchise more than others...call it luck or a master plan if you want.
I think the Salary Cap saved the league and not just small market Canada, but franchises like Carolina or Nashville that couldn't compete with the Rangers, Red Wings, and whichever other owners were willing to spend their fortunes on players.
I don't have any issue with the league's growth. Arizona is the one market that has given the NHL nightmares, but after 27 years they've also built up an alumni, and some history, mostly negative. I'm sure given the choice of most players today, Phoenix would be more favourable than my home market of Winnipeg, to live in, for players.
Reffing in the NHL is probably my biggest pet peeve. It's brutal, and unintelligible. DoPs is a joke, and the NHL should be ashamed of themselves from distancing from helping players who went through the tough guy phase, which created a lot of entertainment, but also caused significant brain damage in many of its participants.
Gary has succeeded in bringing the U.S into the NHL on a significant basis. He has to respect Canada because the bulk of the league's revenues still come from there, on a comparative basis, but I don't think he is great for the game. I'd like to see a guy like Brian Burke, who has been around hockey just as long, but is a hockey guy in a true sense, represent the league. I think he'd have a better working relation with Canadian fans, having worked in Canadian markets.
He's not a New York guy trying to make New York the epicentre of hockey.
theathletic.com
en.wikipedia.org
