Gary Bettman job performance

[BigBadBlueBird]

Bettman is an easy target, but since he took over, the NHL has seen it's revenues more than quadruple, and as bad as the NBC deal is, it is still better than what the league had when he arrived.

He convinced the American owners to agree to the Canadian assistance plan - the first form of revenue sharing the league had - to help prevent more Canadian teams from leaving, and he was able to unify the owners for 2004, and teach them to learn from their mistakes of 1994. From a buisness perspective, Bettman may well have been the best commissioner the league has ever had.

Of course, he is also the only commissioner the league has ever had.

[LIUhockey18]

He is horrible. Versus is terrible, they should do more games on nbc, and maybe bring back some shows like NHL cool shots and play them on saturday mornings where kids can see them and become interested in the sport. He defaced the league enough when he change the conference and division names and now hes doing it again with these new Edge Uniforms. The Wales and Campbell conferences, Adams, Patrick, Norris, and Smythe divisions, all of that showed a sense of tradition, herritage even. They signified the sport as one that took pride in its past and gave a daily reminder to fans and players of who came before them and what those people meant to the sport. The uniforms shared a similar sense of history as well. As an Islanders fan (go ahead and laugh if you must) whenever I saw a current Islanders player wearing that sweater I thought of the dynasty days and the great players of that team. Nystrom, Trottier, Bossy, Smith just to name a few. I wasn't alive to see the cup raised on Long Island but to me the stories and old videos mean as much to me as monument park in Yankee Stadium would mean to a Yankee fan.
So to Mr. Bettman, I say shame on you for destroying a piece of sports history, and turning a once proud league into something flashy for the casual fan. The NHL does not need the casual sports fan, who sits in his recliner with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other, just flipping over to the game to check the score every now and then. The NHL does't need fans who have never strapped on a pair of skates and been slammed into the boards before. The NHL needs the passionate fan, the knowledgable fan, the fan that doesn't need the morning paper to know what last nights score was or to check when the next game is because a true hockey fan doesn't like a team, he loves a team. This may be just a business to Gary Bettman, but for me and countless others, it's a passion.
I grew up on this game and on the ice wanting to one day wear an NHL sweater. As I enter my final season of playing hockey at the collegiate level, I'm pretty much aware that I will never get to wear that sweater, but I'd give anything to become a part of that history and tradition which I have come to know and love.

[kpm2k]

Balsillie deal = Proof of Bettman being a f'n idiot in my opinion.. They just had an opportunity to increase the worth of every hockey franchise, yet he somehow convinced Leopold to take $50million dollars less ?!

[Habsfan84]

He seems to have a problem with keeping teams in non hockey regions. I would say he has done a pretty bad job but is now working in the right direction that the NHL needs.

[detroitfan]

Gary Bettman is destroying this league it was better without him.

[BigBadBlueBird]

In what way?

[Habsfan84]

The schedule was terrible for the game. He scrued hockey over for a season. The TV deal that he worked out with versus. Thats three and there are many more.