Amid all the on-going clamor about head shots, concussions, and player safety in the NHL, one significant action was quietly enacted, arousing little attention: Commissioner Gary Bettman‘s contract was extended five years.
That is bad news for Canadians who want more Canadian franchises in the NHL.
It is often said that Bettman is the main villain in the on-going struggle to get more Canadian teams in the NHL.
Under his tenure, there has been no expansion into Canada, and Quebec and Winnipeg lost their teams.
But in truth, to a large extent, Bettman is merely a figurehead. He was hired by the NHL owners because he could be trusted to carry out certain policies.
As commissioner, Bettman is the up-front man, the face of the NHL. The owners made decisions behind closed doors and Bettman carries them out.
So Bettman’s contract renewal means one thing: the NHL owners want no change in policy.
What does that mean for Canadians who want more NHL franchises in their own country? What policies is Bettman the front man for?
1. Buffalo and Toronto want to continue with their monopoly of the southern Ontario market. That means there will be no teams in Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Oshawa, and a second Toronto team.
2. Current Canadian franchise owners don’t want to share television money with more Canadian teams. That means they don’t want Quebec and Winnipeg back in the NHL, or any other Canadian city.
3. The NHL owners are fully backing Bettman’s fight-to-the-death policy to retain ALL money-losing American markets, no matter how bad or hopeless they are.
4. The NHL owners are still willing to own and operate the money-losing Phoenix Coyotes, no matter how hard a hit they take.
5. The NHL owners would probably back Bettman if he expanded the league into more American markets that are unfamiliar with hockey, but not Canada or the northern United States.
6. Getting a rich American television contract is still the No. 1 goal of the NHL.
7. Potential owners like Jim Balsillie, Quebecor, David Thomson, Mark Chipman and Ice Edge are wasting their time waiting to buy a current NHL team or waiting for expansion.
8. For once the Canadian Federal Government is made to look like a genius by refusing to pour any tax dollars into the new Quebec arena.
9. Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume and Quebec Premier Jean Charest had better be right that a new Quebec arena will still make money without an NHL team.
10. Pressure group the Manitoba Mythbusters should stop scraping the barrel every time some NHL player or bigwig makes ANY kind of positive comment about Winnipeg, and consider other ways of getting a major league professional team. They should be saying “show me” and “we’ll believe it when we see it.”
Many Canadians now don’t trust or believe in the NHL any more. Bettman’s contract extension should be a further wake-up call for the rest.
If the NHL was really serious about getting Quebec and Winnipeg back into the NHL, they could expand the league right now, without losing any face or losing any American franchises.
After all, Quebec has now complied with their terms about a new arena, and Bettman himself stated that the small Winnipeg arena is NHL-worthy. There is no hindrance to expanding to a symmetrical 32 teams.
When Bettman wanted to expand the league, he did it in a hurry. Nashville, Anaheim, Florida, Minnesota, Columbus and Atlanta never had any impediments to joining the NHL.
What’s stopping him from moving back into Winnipeg and Quebec, which he claims he wants to do, now?
His policies stand in sharp contrast to the John Ziegler years. Under Ziegler, three Canadian teams were added when the NHL merged with the WHA, Atlanta was shifted to Calgary and the league expanded to Ottawa.
There can only be one conclusion about the meaning of Bettman’s contract extension. The NHL fully backs his policies.
If Canadians want more big league professional hockey played in their country, don’t put any more faith, dreams, hopes, or money into the NHL. It’s just a waste of time.
Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com