“We’re going to dispel the myth that this is a regional sport,” Gary Bettman said during a press conference to announce him as the NHL’s first, and so far only, commissioner. “The prospects for growth are phenomenal.” As of this month, Bettman has spent 30 years trying to convince everyone both statements are true, to varying degrees of success.
By now, anyone familiar with hockey knows about Bettman’s track record since he took office in February 1993. His quest for growth has alienated fanbases. His pursuit of more TV eyeballs has often been uneven and embarrassing – remember the glowing puck? And he led the league into three major labour disruptions, including one that unforgivably led to the cancellation of a whole season.
On the other hand, there are many more fanbases now than there were in 1992, including a whole crop of new fans in cities like Winnipeg or Minneapolis that have replaced the old ones that hated Bettman. Most of the new teams he helped usher into the league have been successful, some even winning multiple championships. Even those that aren’t successes on the ice (read: Arizona) are nevertheless successful in at least a comedic sense off it. And, overall, franchise valuations are way up. As for TV audiences, the story remains mixed. Overall, the NHL has technically become more available to more TV audiences, but is still frustrating fans in multiple ways. And, if Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports (the collection of regional networks multiple NHL teams rely on), goes belly-up, revenue streams could be in big trouble.
Still, by the standard Bettman set on his first day, the NHL is … kind of doing OK? But one day, Bettman will step down. The league he’ll leave behind will almost certainly be better off financially. What about the future of the sport itself?
To push hockey beyond its regional confines into a state of growth, Bettman had to operate in denial. He had to deny, for instance, that the sport was regional – which it was. He had to deny, also, that there was little historic precedent to show that it would be able to grow, let alone phenomenally.
In other words, he had to ignore some pretty big things. Bettman has, for instance, maintained that there is “no conclusive link” between repetitive blows to the head and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), ignoring sound evidence that there is. As hockey reeled from sexual harassment revelations within Hockey Canada last summer, Bettman told a reporter that the NHL doesn’t have a culture problem – again, ignoring evidence to the contrary. And last month, when Ivan Provorov refused to wear a Pride-themed warm-up jersey to support the NHL’s Hockey is for Everyone initiative, with the player suggesting that being LGBTQIA+ is a choice, Bettman all but defended him.
Youth hockey in Canada (the sport’s – ahem – regional heartland) is struggling to recruit. A lot of that has to do with the cost in money, time, and emotion. But ask around and you’ll quickly find that hockey’s inability to address some of its deeper cultural issues is a contributing factor to some opting out. These problems are not Bettman’s to solve alone, nor are they his fault. But his continued ignorance of them – placing the business of hockey forever above the longevity of the sport itself – is.
When Bettman appears on the ice this spring to present the Stanley Cup to the 2023 champions and hears the traditional round of boos, he will probably ignore those, too, as he has for nearly 30 years. He will probably smile, as he usually does, through gritted teeth. He’s not going anywhere yet. Why would he? The prospects for growth are phenomenal.
Top Cheese: Jaromir Jagr is still going
A few days before turning 51, former NHL great Jaromir Jagr scored his 1,099th hockey goal (in a professional league or international tournament). The goal now puts him ahead of Wayne Gretzky on the all-time scoring leaders list. Jagr plays in the Czech league for the Kladno Knights, a team that he played for as a teenager and now owns.
In fairness, Jagr’s professional career is more than a decade longer than that of Gretzky. But Jagr got to this point because he puts in the work – and always has (he reportedly started doing 1,000 squats a day at the age of seven). As detailed in a New York Times profile written after he’d been moved to the Florida Panthers at the age of 44, Jagr remained more dedicated to his fitness regimen than players half his age. He would work out earlier, longer, and more often than anyone – sometimes in the middle of the night.
Nothing has changed, according to Adam Brodecki, one of Jagr’s current teammates: “Every morning when Jagr arrives for practice, he warms up in the pool. He just jumps in the water, and then he stands there, with a stick and a puck, doing dekes. That’s his warmup.”
Cup chase
Other than the Bruins, the hottest team in 2023 is the New York Rangers. The Rangers added Vladimir Tarasenko from St Louis shortly after the All-Star break to bolster their offence, and it’s working. Sure, they benefitted from a swing through the lowly Pacific division, but with a 14-2-3 record since 1 January, the Rangers are making gains in the Metro – sitting four points behind of the New Jersey Devils to start the final week of the month.
Elsewhere in the East, Toronto picked up Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from St Louis, handing the Blues two 2023 draft picks and one for 2024. Speculation is that the Leafs aren’t finished dealing, yet.
In the West, the field is crowded – but weaker than in the East. As of Tuesday, 72 points would land you top spot in either the Pacific or Central division. In the East, that would only be good enough for a wild card spot.
Bedard chase
The Anaheim Ducks, officially last in the West going into the final full week of February, are first in at least one race: that of negative goal differential, which sat at -96 on Tuesday afternoon. Anaheim will soon have conceded 250 goals this season, which is bad! But it’s all relative. The Ducks are nowhere near the goals-against record held by the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, who allowed 446 on their way to an historic 8-67-5 season, the worst on record. Meanwhile, in tanking news, Mason McTavish is apparently texting Connor Bedard on the regular. Read into that what you want.
Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Flyers are giving season-ticket holders three “free” games in April (crediting those games to next year’s tickets) as a penance for the team’s poor performance this year. Head coach John Tortorella also wrote them a letter, saying that while he’s been “pleased with our team’s effort, drive and hunger to compete… we’re not there yet.” Indeed. Specifically, they’re third-last in the East.
Clip of the month
We go to the AHL for this month’s best individual effort. The game between the San Jose Barracuda and the Ontario Reign on February 16 went to overtime tied 3-3. With 2:30 left in the extra period, Danil Gushchin – drafted 76th overall in 2020 by the Sharks – got the puck. The video shows the rest:
Elsewhere around the league
— New York City – Things are getting weird at Madison Square Garden. Earlier in February, James Dolan, chief executive at MSG Entertainment Corporation (which owns the Rangers and Knicks), threatened to halt alcohol sales at hockey games in retaliation for the New York State Liquor Authority’s ongoing investigation into the organization’s use of facial-recognition technology at Madison Square Garden. As the New York Times reported, the tech is being used to ban lawyers employed by firms that are currently suing Dolan’s company from The Garden. The SLA maintains that, as a public business with a liquor license, MSG has to stay open to the public – whoever they may work for.
— NHL HQ – As mentioned above, the upheaval at Diamond Sports Group LLC (which operates under the Bally Sports brand, and is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting) may have significant impacts on multiple regional sports networks, including those broadcasting games for about a dozen NHL teams. The NHL said on 16 February that it is “closely monitoring” the situation.
