This is why a lot of people don't like Gary Bettman, and neither do I. Bettman is one of the most pompous, smug and arrogant people and he is not good for the NHL. The NHL has been doing this dance with the Phoenix Coyotes for a long time and blowing 30 million dollars a year in losses. It's almost like Bettman is going to go down with the Phoenix Coyotes just to prove a point. The guy should run for congress because he fails to ever answer a question directly.
People need to remember is the NHL owners didn't think Bettman was doing a good job they would fire him.
ReplyDeleteDo I believe the NHL should go back to places like Winnipeg or Quebec? Sure.
Do I believe in the wrong run it will be financially viable? Nope.
The Coyotes should move to a northern US city to really make this thing work.
Goon:
ReplyDeleteYou probably already know that Bettman is a lawyer. That's why he never gives a clear answer.
Bettman IS the problem with the NHL. He was formerly a senior vice-president and general counsel to the National Basketball Association (NBA). And it is clear to see that he has been trying to turn the NHL into the NBA. Everything that the NHL has done since he took power is based on the NBA model.
It doesn't work, because hockey is not the same as basketball. In basketball, you only need 5 or 6 players to have a successful team, and 1 or 2 great players can dominate (see Bryant, Kobe and Jordan, Michael).
That doesn't work in hockey, where a team with a couple of great players can be beaten by a team that works hard, or by a hot goalie.
Also, basketball works no matter what climate you are in. The game is played indoors, after all. Hockey doesn't work in southern locales because you can't skate on the ice when it is 80+ degrees out. Rather than sit around inside when it is 10 below, people up north go skating.
@Green Hornet: There are no more northern US cities that could 'make this thing work'. Portland? No. Seattle? Hell, no, they couldn't make the NBA work there. Maybe put a team back in Hartford? But where else? Fargo? No. Billings? No. Cleveland? Uh uh. The fact is that the NHL needs to CONTRACT at least 4 teams, and possibly even 6, to remain viable. Florida (Miami), Atlanta, Nashville, LA, Anaheim, and one other team should be shut down. In my analysis a few years ago, I concluded that those 5 teams plus Pittsburgh should be contracted. Not gonna happen now that the Pens won the Cup last year, but one more team needs to go. San Jose stays because they have a lot of fan support. When I did the analysis, Tampa Bay had the fan support, than may no longer be true.
And just to make things right, the NHL should do a couple other things:
1) Forcibly relocate the Phoenix franchise to Winnipeg and reinstate the Jets nickname and logo.
2) Force the Dallas team to relinquish the rights to the name North Stars, and force the Minnesota franchise to readopt the name and logo. No more of this 'Wild' crap, I've been to MSP and the last thing it is is wild.
3) Get a decent TV contract with a channel that folks can find on basic cable.