Bettman's Surprise Party

In honour of the fifteenth year that Gary Bettman has been NHL Commissioner, I have decided to have a surprise party in his name. Of the guests expected to attend the party, at a playground for the elite, are: Craig Leipold (Wild owner) , William Del Biaggio III (former Predators owner), Philip Anschutz (Kings owner) and Henry Samueli (Ducks owner).

While the names seem inconspicuous to the layman, they are at the heart of the downfall that may decide the kid commissioner's fate.

Leipold, Anschutz and Del Baggio, for the purposes of this article, are named the Three Amigos. From the outside, it appears they have conspired to undermine Bettman with the other 27 owners.

The tale is long and twisted with a plot that would make John Grisham or Dean Koontz stand up and take notice.

"Anschutz and Leipold are on Gary's executive committee"

It seems that Leipold and Anschutz, two of Bettman's closest confidants, lent Del Baggio $17 million in his attempt to buy a $25 million stake in the Nashville Predators. While it isn't clear what Leipold's motive was it is alleged that Anschutz wanted an empty transport truck warming up in front of the Sommet Center in Nashville (aka Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts). Even though Del Baggio had a minority stake in the Predators, he apparently had the ability to move the team to Kansas City, where Anschutz's Entertainment Group happened to own the Sprint Center.

Bettman, smug and cocky, at the best of times, went before the board of governors and told them he had no prior knowledge of this shady deal made in the dark hearts of men.

"Anschutz and Leipold are on Gary's executive committee," an NHL insider told Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star. " These are guys who are at the power centre of the league, close to Gary, and supposed to be his best allies and here they were lending Del Biaggio money, and not telling Gary, at a time when they were supposed to be reviewing his offer to become an owner.

"It stinks."

Will not tolerate any criminal activity from its owners

Just when Bettman thought his surprise party couldn't get any worse, Samueli, led by federal authorities, enters the party.

The owner of the Anaheim Ducks faces the prospect of five years probation and $12.2 million in fines after admitting he lied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commmission about a stock option scandal within his company Broadcom.

The smart thing for Bettman to do, if not the most obvious, would be to distance himself from Samueli and say that the NHL will not tolerate any kind of criminal activity from its owners.

In his typical evasive style, Bettman said Samueli is one of the most charitable men in Orange County and he wasn't going to worry about something that may or may not have occurred.

The commish didn't have to run Samueli up the yardarm but he should have made it clear that these type of incidents aren't acceptable in the NHL.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

Ill-conceived expansion over the last fifteen years

These owners are Bettman's hand-picked choices and I guess nothing less than blind loyalty from him was warranted. In the words of a salty dog, "The man is going down with the ship."

I think that greed and arrogance have played a large role in these incidents. When Bettman started his expansion plans across the Southern U.S., how could the owners resist lining their pockets with expansion money? Or how could Bettman, the owners messiah, admit that he was wrong in pushing hockey into markets where it doesn't stand a chance of ever succeeding.

Or maybe it was all bad luck.

Not likely, considering these recent incidents are a direct result of ill-conceived expansion over the last fifteen years.

Having said that, what these two episodes show us is quite clear.

It seems Bettman's zeal for hockey in southern markets has resulted in a lack of due diligence in the search for owners. It also appears the commish is running a banana republic. What the hell are the Three Amigos dealing in secret for?

Maybe Gary took his invisible pills that week.

At least one thing is clear, "we all see you Gary and we're watching."