If it ain't broke, don't fix it. NHL and NHLPA have a pretty good thing going

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 1-26-2019


NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is vociferously booed nearly every time he takes the podium in front of the general hockey public. Perhaps it's a little more tradition now than it was just after the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the first time in the history of pro sports a major league lost an entire season due to labor strife. On behalf of the owners, Bettman locked out the players for 310 days in an effort at "cost-certainty," otherwise known as a salary cap, and when all was said and done the owners prevailed and the owners got their way, the players saw a 24% rollback in salary and the fans were left to simmer in rancor for the entire length of the lockout.

There are a myriad of other reasons that fans have a strong distaste for Bettman. Canadian fans in particular saw him bastardizing their hockey roots by moving franchises (Winnipeg and Quebec) out of "the Birthplace of Hockey" and into U.S. markets and they showed particular displeasure as Bettman focused upon "non-traditional cities" for relocation and expansion. Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta (for the second time,) Nashville and Dallas (where the former Minnesota North Stars moved) were not places that invoked childhood memories of skating on frozen rinks for a game of shinny in the cold of winter.

Some didn't like his demeanor (seen as aloof) and some didn't like his height (or the Napoleonic aura he seemed to project) or that he opted to move on from ESPN post-lockout to "a television leader in action and adventure sports" known OLN, or the Outdoor Life Network for national games (OLN would become Versus and eventually NBC Sports Network.) In fact anything that a fan disliked about the game could be traced back (in their minds) to Bettman.

However, most of the vitriol sent Bettman's way was tied to work stoppages, three of which he presided over.