You're still not getting it, Talloola: Bettman is essentially the spokesman for the owners. The face. He's not a figurehead and he has some ideas of his own, but they don't move ahead without approval of the owners.
As for Bettman being responsible for all the mistakes, he wasn't the one who put forth franchises like the Kansas City Scouts, the Cleveland Barons, the California Golden Seals, the Atlanta Flames or the Colorado Rockies, all of which failed or had to be moved in the 70s. The NHL has had its eye on the financial candy of the US TV market for decades and has made repeated attempts to secure a piece of it. Arguably under Bettman's watch they have done a better job because while some franchises aren't entirely healthy, they aren't moving or folding anymore.
Bettman wasn't the one that changed the economics of the NHL by making stupidly inflationary salary offers to free agents in an effort to buy a championship (see Ron Caron, Neil Smith, Bob Clark, Cliff Fletcher, Glen Sather and others), that in the end meant that Winnipeg and Quebec could no longer afford their teams.
I'm not going to say franchises in Nashville or Phoenix make a whole lot of sense to me, but at the same time, I'll balance that by admitting that Winnipeg and Quebec City don't have the population (or corporate base) to sustain them either. People bring up Hamilton time and again, and while I agree that it might be a good place for another team, the OWNERS of the Leafs, Sabres and Wings have a lot to say about the placement of new franchises in their back yard, that might affect their revenue streams.
It bothers me to see this whole "hockey is ours" mentality, especially from people who cheer on the American and European players on their hometown team's rosters. Whats best for the game is to allow the market to grow, so more people are exposed and more kids grow up playing the game and wanting to be the next Sid/Ovechkin/Ryan Miller. Growing something is not always linear and painless. Take pride in what we have, don't get hung up in resenting what others do or don't.
I don't think he is just a spokesman for the owners, they are a
group who makes decisions together, then he speaks, and is
very much a politician at that time. Sure we can't blame
him alone, but he is the talking head, so the responsibility
to explain the moves is his. What was done years ago, is
also the responsibility of the commissioners at that time.
The NHL are topping up the huge losses of certain cities in
the u.s. to keep them afloat, same thing could have been
done with winnipeg and quebec, now that the cost of purchasing a team has gone through the roof, those two
canadian cities will never be able to afford it, but they
had their teams back then, just like those useless cities
with no interested fans have theirs now, and those cities are receiving lots of help to sustain them, and they even
had to buy the phoenix coyotes.
Hockey is ours, it is our game, always will be, that only
means 'pride' that we started it, and it will always be
our game, that has nothing to do with being flexible and
enjoying watching the game grow, of course we want the
game to grow.
Bettman (and friends) should have wined and dined the
seattle area many years ago, and given them good reasons
to want a team in the NHL. Makes so much sense, would
complete the west coast system of teams, the NHL has never
even mentioned them, always seem to travel south, insane.
Yes, I know about the leafs, sabres 'not' wanting another
team in that area, probably would affect the sabres more
than the leafs, and of course the leafs, being the richest
team in the league, have lots of power.
Well it's nice to finally hear someone put the blame where
it belongs re: inflation of salaries, and not on the players, and yes I do remember when owners were fighting
over certain players, and handed them huge salaries, just
to 'get' that player, I remember St. Louis being the first
to do that, forget the player. No Salary cap then, and I
agree with the salary cap, that was a good move for the
sake of balancing out the competative abilities of all
teams.
It's also nice that rangers, and other rich organizations
can't buy teams any longer. That wasn't much different
than montreal and toronto gathering up all of the good
juniors years ago, and keeping them for themselves, before
there was a 'draft'. People talk about them as though they
were such powerhouses, of course they were, I'll take this
one and this one and all of those, and, oh, here are the
left overs for all of you to fight over.
I was a habs fan back then, loved that team, 'why not',
who wouldn't.
I don't understand why the owners aren't having a war inside
of the NHL, because of all the millions they have to fork
over to support failing teams.
Bettman and friends could have gone a little slower, and
given the league time to grow, takes a long time in markets
that don't even know the game, instead of cash and grab
mentality, to get their purchase money for the teams, then
sit back and watch them fail. Not much forethought in my
opinion.
I don't like the word resentment much, doesn't fit me, but
I do observe over the years, and notice that 'money' seems
to be the bottom line for bettman & friends, take the
money, then hope the team will do well, without any economic
studies to find out how much interest will be there after
that money is deposited.
I've watched 'our game' for over 60 years, love it and
will continue to love it, seem commissioners come and
go, and the buck stops with them in the eyes of the fans,
they have no one else to look to as the person responsible,
they never see the 'whole team' inside the NHL, as I said
before he is the spokesman, and has to take the flack, that's
life, it's his responsibility. I also don't like
the power of the eastern owners over the NHL. They don't
have much interest in the needs of the west. I listened
to a couple of gen. mgrs. being interviewed one day, and
they said as far as they are concerned it is irritating
when the western teams come to their cities to play, the
fan turn out drops, and "it would be good for us if we
only played eastern conference teams", so they couldn't
care less about the west, they don't want to have to travel
more, like the west does, and are not interested in helping
to balance the schedule at all, that will be forced on
them, I hope.
