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Posts Tagged Gary Bettman

NHL Proposes New Realignment Plan

Dec 5

Posted by Eddie in News | 1 Comment

Love or Hate the proposal? Comment below.

Something that every Red Wings fans has desired: a schedule plan that decreases the amount of insane west coast trips the team embarks on every season. Most importantly, we will be seeing a true balanced schedule that the NBA has where every team will play a home-and-home against every team in the National Hockey League.

The NHL’s Board of Governors are meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. to discuss realignment and other topics. We have covered this meeting a few times in recent weeks. While this isn’t a perfect plan that every team will love, it is a plan that had it’s benefits and drawbacks for every team. Still pending Gary Bettman’s approval, this format will go into effect next season.

 

Here are the proposed Yet-To-Be-Named Conferences:

 

  1. West Coast teams : Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver
  2.  Midwest teams: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
  3. Mid-Atlantic teams: Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
  4. East Coast teams: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto

Some of the highlights:

  • Four conferences instead of two. Two teams will have eight teams while the other two have seven. They are based on region and geography.
  • Designed to alleviate travel concerns Western teams had where they crossed as many as three time zones. Teams such as Detroit and Columbus frequently had games in Los Angeles, San Jose and Vancouver starting as late as 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The Red Wings and Blue Jackets will venture to western Canada and the west coast twice a season versus four they currently have.
  • The schedule will also force every team to make a trip to California, Arizona, and western Canada. Something some Eastern teams do one trip per city every-other-year.
  • In the seven-team conferences, teams would play intra-conference six times (three and and three away).
  • In the eight-team conferences, teams would play each other five or six times on a rotating basis. Three teams play each other six times and the other four will square off five times. If you play a team six times one season, they will play them five times the following season.
  • Similar to the Pre-Bettman NHL, the first round will be intra-conference the first two rounds. With the division champion playing the fourth seed and the second seed hosting the third. The third round will consist of the conference champions with the two teams left playing for the Stanley Cup.
  • UPDATE AT 11:45 p.m. From Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie), “Four conference winners are seeded on total points, 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3, so an all-East or all-West final is possible.”

Before it reaches Bettman’s desk, two-thirds of the Board of Governors must approve the proposal.

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Gary Bettman’s salary $7.5 million during 2009-10

Jul 27

Posted by Chris in News | 1 Comment

According to recent tax documents in a published report by SportsBusiness Journal, Gary Bettman, the often chided NHL Commissioner, earned $7.5 million during the 2009-10 fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010. This marked a four percent increase in pay from the previous year.

It also puts Bettman on par with Marion Gaborik, Ilya Kovalchuk, Roberto Luongo and Zdeno Chara – NHL superstars who all earned $7.5 million during the 2009-10 season. In fact, only 12 NHL players earned more that season than Bettman.

Bettman’s base salary consisted of $5,787,524 while other compensation, deferred compensation and benefits accounted for the remaining salary.

The tax documents also show that Bettman’s salary has doubled since the 2004-05 lockout while total revenue generated by the NHL, NHL Enterprises and members clubs rose from $2.1 billion to $2.9 billion during the same time frame.

Bettman, who is often the target of fan scorn and is audibly booed at major appearances (such as the Stanley Cup Finals where he presents the trophy to the captain of the winning team), still makes only a fraction of what Commissioners of other major sports league make annually. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig makes $18.35 million annually while NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell makes $10.9 million.

Share your thoughts! Does Bettman deserve to make a salary equivelent to some of the league’s top talent?

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NHL Discipline Getting Better

Jun 3

Posted by EB in News, Soap Box | 1 Comment

League disciplinarian Colin Campbell will be stepping down after this year. In doing so, the torch is expected to be passed to former player Brendan Shanahan.

In the 13 years of league disciplinarian, Campbell has taken many criticism from fans. At times he has been viewed as too tough, others not tough at all. The reality however, is that his position was set-up to be scrutinized, ultimately to fail.

The current disciplinarian system is a one man decision, influenced by one’s perspective. On top of this, the decision is based on a set of rules that at times, does not address the action to be later disciplined. Also, the U.S. believes in “justice is blind”, yet it is evident that the current discipline does take into account who the offender is. Factor all these together and you have what we have today, a broken system.

With a new face in Brendan Shanahan, the league intends on changing the position entirely. Although the details have not been laid out, the league does expect to crack down on players.

“If we are going to move to harsher discipline, that change needs to send a clear message and we think it would probably be best to do on a clean slate.” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in regards to Campbell stepping down.

Shanahan will have his hands full in the off-season. He is already handling the department of player safety. The two roles will overlap though, with player safety developing rules to better protect players without changing the fundamental nature of the game, the disciplinarian position will be to enforce the rules to protect the players.

Look to next season to be more consistent than years past. This is in part with the leaving of Campbell, but more so, having the rules in place to be enforced. The game evolves, as does the rules. Not many fans will morn Campbell stepping down, but as a fan and as a rational person, a lot of respect should be shown towards Campbell for doing the best that he could do in a tough, tough position.

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NHL Fans’ Association Co-Founder Asks Bettman to Retire

Nov 23

Posted by Matt in News | 2 Comments

NHLFA co-founder Jim Boone asks Gary Bettman to retire as commissioner of the NHL

NHLFA co-founder Jim Boone asks Gary Bettman to retire as commissioner of the NHL

Up until a few hours ago, I was not even aware of the existence of the NHL Fans’ Association. However, such an organization does exist. The group was founded in 1998 in order to give hockey fans in North America a way to express their views on the NHL.

Today, the NHLFA and co-founder Jim Boone, are making hockey headlines. In a blog post on The Hockey News, Boone has written an open letter to Gary Bettman and politely asked him to retire from his position as commissioner of the NHL.

In the blog, Boone writes:

The time has come for you to retire as the commissioner of the NHL while you carry some respect.

There is a noticeable, growing groundswell developing among fans who want a new commissioner of their sport.  As we both know, fans are the most important stakeholder in the NHL with the quietest voice. (You know my feelings about your track record when it comes to fan relations, but there’s no need to revive that dead horse today.)

If you truly care about the NHL, you would seize the moment and exit gracefully before the next round of CBA negotiations starts heating up. And what better time to usher in a new leader of the league than when the NHL Players’ Association is undergoing a governance review and is leaderless for the next few months? There’s no risk to the league when the NHL’s nemesis – the NHLPA – is in organizational turmoil.

I ask that you resign before January 1, 2010. If you are still in office in the new year, I will organize the 30,000 members of NHL Fans’ Association to encourage the NHL governors to replace you as commissioner. We feel that a new commissioner would be the best thing for the NHL.

You can read the post in its entirety at TheHockeyNews.com.

What do you guys think of this request?

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Fleury Released by Calgary Flames

Sep 25

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

Theoren Fleury Theoren Fleury has been released by the Calgary Flames.

The 41-year-old Fleury released this statement, “I am very thankful to Darryl and the Flames organization for following through on the commitment to provide me with this opportunity. I said in the beginning that no matter what the outcome, this would be a success story. I intend to take the next few days to review this experience and make decisions with my family regarding next steps in my life.”

Theo, who has not played since April 4, 2003 with the Chicago Blackhawks, attempted to make a comeback. Fleury battled alcoholism throughout his career, even being fined and eventually suspended indefinitely, has been sober for 4 years now.

NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman after seeing and reinstating Fleury, “I know Theo pretty well, we had spent some time together when things in his life were a little less settled. Seeing him last night, he looked terrific, he sounded terrific, he seems to be in a good place, he’s been sober for a number of years.

“We wish him well. I hope he can fulfil his dream and come back.”

That dream, unfortunately, has come to an end. The 5’6″ dynamic skater will come to yet another crossroad in his life.

As a fan, and as a person knowing the difficulties of substance abuse, I wish nothing but the best for Theo Fleury. To me, you did make the comeback, not an inch short of it, but a mile pass it.

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