Gary Bettman turned 74 years old on Tuesday and celebrated his birthday the best way possible: with a press conference.
During his annual pre-Stanley Cup Final chat, Bettman fielded questions on several topics, including what his future as NHL commissioner looks like and whether there are any succession plans once he is ready to retire. Bettman has held the position for 33 years, having been first named commissioner on February 1, 1993.
“Any major organization, it’s incumbent upon its CEO, which a commissioner is, and its board, to have a succession plan,” Bettman said. “I am 74, and I do acknowledge the fact that I can’t do this forever. We have been in discussions over the last couple of years as to what a succession plan might look like.
“It hasn’t been fully implemented, the executive committee is fully on board, and the board has been briefed in terms of the direction we may go. But beyond that, there’s nothing happening imminently, and reports of my demise or retirement are greatly exaggerated.”
Bettman’s future became a topic of conversation earlier this season and was highlighted again on Tuesday by reporting from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The preeminent hockey insider revealed shortly before the presser that, according to multiple sources, Bettman, in conversations with members of the NHL’s Executive Committee, “has begun laying the groundwork for his eventual exit from his current role.”
While Bettman clearly is refusing to get into the specifics of what that plan may look like, the obvious successor to his throne is current NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. Daly, 62, was first named to the second seat behind Bettman in 2005 after initially being hired by the league in 1996 as senior vice president of legal affairs. He was the primary negotiator on the NHL’s side during the 2004-05 lockout and assumed his new position after helping the league agree to terms on a new CBA with the NHLPA.
Bettman has steered the NHL to huge growth during his tenure as NHL commissioner, both financially and literally, with eight new franchises joining the league since 1993. However, three separate labor stoppages (1994-95, 2004-05, 2012-13) happened under his watch.
The 2004–05 season remains a black mark on Bettman’s tenure, as it is the only year outside of the 1918–19 campaign—halted by the Great Influenza epidemic—in which the Stanley Cup was not awarded.
