Gary Bettman

Gary Bettman says no NHL jersey ads next season but ‘it’s something we’re looking at’

Gary Bettman announced that jersey ads would not be coming to the NHL next season, but signaled it’s very much on the table and its implentation could come in the near future.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s inevitable,” Bettman said. “It’s something that makes good sense for us to be considering and looking at but certainly not for next season. Beyond that, I’m not prepared to predict but it’s something we’re looking at.”

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By Ian Oland 4 weeks ago

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NHL’s participation in 2022 Olympics remains ‘a work in progress’, Gary Bettman questions logic of taking part during pandemic

In the newest CBA, the NHL gave into the NHLPA’s demands and agreed to return to the Olympics in 2022 and 2026. However, the coronavirus pandemic is complicating matters for the Beijing Games.

Monday, before Game One of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final between the Montreal Canadiens and defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commish Bill Daly met with the press digitally via Zoom and gave an update on negotiations.

They were not optimistic.

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By Ian Oland 4 weeks ago

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Arbitrator cites NHL’s past excessive punishment of Tom Wilson in Nazem Kadri decision

Nazem Kadri’s eight-game suspension from the NHL was upheld by an independent arbitrator on Tuesday.

Kadri received the nearly double-digit ban after nailing Justin Faulk with a blindside hit to the head during Game Two of the Avalanche-Blues’ first-round series on May 19.

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By Ian Oland 2 months ago

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Athletic report suggests Tom Wilson was suspended for Brandon Carlo hit because Gary Bettman ‘didn’t like the optics’

Tom Wilson avoided being suspended for starting a line brawl against the New York Rangers on Monday, but he wasn’t so lucky earlier in the season.

In March 2021, Wilson was suspended for seven games for a hit he made on Brandon Carlo that sent the Bruins defenseman to the hospital. It was the fifth time Wilson had been suspended by the Department of Player Safety in his career.

The Capitals believed (strongly) that the hit was legal; Wilson’s supplemental discipline marked the first time in NHL history a player was suspended for boarding on a hit that wasn’t from behind. “On the ice, even the ref said like ‘it’s not two minutes. It’s a [clean] hit’ and the guy gets seven games,” Alex Ovechkin said.

In an unusually broad explainer video, DoPS reasoned that the “totality of circumstances” surrounding the Carlo hit required Wilson to be suspended seven games.

Now we’re learning more context surrounding that suspension, which seems to explain why Wilson’s punishment was so severe.

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By Ian Oland 3 months ago

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Gary Bettman: NHL helmet ads are ‘likely’ staying long term

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly met with the media on Thursday to reflect on the one-year anniversary of the NHL suspending its 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic. The two executives celebrated the league’s accomplishments during that time and looked forward to the future.

“We completed a CBA extension, we negotiated a new US media rights agreement, and we signed 13 new corporate partners with the league,” a proud Bettman said. “We created new assets – the helmet decals, the virtual slot ads, the division sponsors — to help our clubs retain 100 million dollars in revenues.”

Bettman said that the temporary helmet ads, which were previously reported as only a one year experiment, are likely here to stay.

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By Ian Oland 4 months ago

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Alex Ovechkin’s lost goals and who is to blame

Here is a story that I’ve put off as long as I could. The short version is that Alex Ovechkin has been unfairly deprived of almost 100 goals. The long version is longer, and it has graphs in it.

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By Peter Hassett 7 months ago

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Report: NHL/NHLPA having talks about a 52 to 56 game regular season that starts on January 15

The NHL and NHLPA have been cranky with each other over the last week and there have been some concerning headlines such as Gary Bettman says NHL not trying to back out of CBA and NHLPA weighing options if NHL cancels season.

But on Friday, there were finally some “positive developments” — Elliotte Friedman’s words, not mine — on next season. According to Friedman, “it sounds like” the NHL’s Escrow Ask of the players is going away and many the details for next season have been settled.

Friedman made his comments to Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Friday morning.

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By Ian Oland 8 months ago

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Gary Bettman says NHL exploring temporary hubs and divisional realignment for next season

Gary Bettman appeared on a virtual panel discussion on Tuesday along with MLB commissioner Rob Manred and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. At the 2020 Paley International Council Summit chat, the NHL commissioner revealed several avenues the league was exploring to play next season.

While pulling off the 2020 playoffs in a bubble was hard, playing the 2020-21 regular season may be an even more difficult needle to thread as the league cannot afford and is unwilling to do a full bubble solution again. The league is currently aiming to start the season on January 1, 2021, but some owners, such as the Golden Knights’ Bill Foley, believe that the start date will be pushed back into February.

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By Ian Oland 9 months ago

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Report: Several owners have told Gary Bettman the NHL might be better off financially not playing next season

The NHL is likely going to play next season, but several owners are already grappling with the economic realities of possibly taking the ice with limited to no ticket sales. Currently, in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic is raging out of control as the country set a new daily record of positive cases (99.784) on October 30 with no end in sight.

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski reported on Monday that several NHL owners suggested to Gary Bettman that the NHL might be better off financially not playing.

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By Ian Oland 9 months ago

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Transcript: Gary Bettman and Bill Daly talk details behind the NHL’s 24-team playoff, return-to-play plan

After revealing the details behind the NHL’s 24-team playoff, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly spoke to reporters Tuesday night and went even more into the weeds about the NHL’s return-to-play plan.

While yesterday’s announcement was exciting, Daly admitted there are a lot of unanswered questions and that the NHL has “a long road in front of us” to actually return.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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