Jack Todd: Bettman's NHL career has been a disaster for Canadian teams

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On February 1, 1993, Gary Bettman was named commissioner of the National Hockey League.

Three months and nine days later, the Canadiens defeated Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings four games to one to win their 24th Lord Stanley Cup.

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From a Canadian perspective, Bettman's tenure has been low since then. Zero Cups for Canadian teams since 1993. With three lockouts, one of them catastrophic, in 2005 the NHL became the only North American league to lose an entire season due to a labor dispute. Bad TV contract with Sportsnet.

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During Bettman's tenure, two Canadian franchises moved to the US and only one recovered – the Winnipeg Jets, whose anemic attendance numbers during a strong season could put the team in danger of another move.

Now the NHL is preparing to move the long-suffering Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City, which has less than half the population of Quebec City. (News of the proposed move was broken by Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, who also reported that the league is working on two different schedule options for the 2024-25 season, one that would see the Coyotes play in their 5,000-seat Arizona venue and the other that would move the team to Salt Lake.)

The current Coyotes ownership is bidding on land for a new Arizona venue, but even if they win the auction, the building won't be ready until 2027, leaving the team to play three more seasons in an unusable arena.

What has kept the Coyotes in the wilderness for 28 years, other than the whims of one Gary Bettman? Why would they move to Salt Lake when a market of over 200,000 people, Quebec City with more than twice the population, is ready and waiting?

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Hockey fans have suffered from Bettman fatigue for a very long time. The news is that Bettman himself seems worn down and out of ideas at the shop. Why would he stubbornly cling to his Arizona dream for thirty years and now give up? Why is it so inflexible in Quebec City? Why did the NHL make a cowardly retreat on Pride Nights after waiving several players?

More importantly, why do Bettman and his lieutenant, Bill Daley, cling to the fiction that the science is not yet on CTE?

Today, Bettman himself seems to lack the energy and imagination to lead the league out of the toxic thicket of Don Cherry's world. Cherry has long since left the stage, banished by her own bile, but her influence endures. When Brady Tkachuk goes nuts and Nico Hischier threatens to go long for a puck on net, we feel the presence of the Cherry in one of his fancy jackets and call out to Tkachuk, “You and me, let's fight.”

That a man like Colin Campbell still holds the dual titles of executive vice president and director of hockey operations tells you all you need to know about the cherry effect and Bettman's approach to the game, especially Mike Murphy's continued involvement. senior vice president of hockey operations.

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Both Campbell and Murphy have significant work-related conflicts in their pasts. Campbell should have been fired in 2010 after it was revealed he called Marc Savard a “little fake artist” when he decided not to suspend him for criticizing the officials who punished his son, Gregory Campbell, and for headbutting Matt Cook. this effectively ended Savard's career.

Murphy's offense wasn't nearly as egregious, but it still offers a rare window into the way Toronto's war room was run under his leadership. In 2010, Murphy disallowed a goal by Vancouver's Daniel Sedin against Murphy's former team, the Los Angeles Kings, in the first round of the playoffs. Murphy later admitted that there was no real kicking movement, but he disallowed the goal.

Here we are, 14 years on, and Campbell and Murphy are further up the food chain. Through George Parros and his “violent gentleman” of Player Safety, the NHL has virtually guaranteed a retrograde approach to the game itself.

Parros himself has been in this job for seven years. Not long by the standards of a ossified front office, but given that the players aren't much safer than they were when he was in charge, his presence is another indication of a league running out of ideas. This goes all the way to the top as if Bettman has nothing to offer but the pyramid scheme that is the extension.

With 31 years on the job, Bettman is the longest-serving commissioner of any major sport on the continent, surpassing his mentor, the NBA's David Stern, who resigned after 30 years. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he's had more of an impact on the NHL than any other person, including the game's biggest stars.

Will Bettman resign? Not bloody. He enters the military and Quebec City is left out in the cold, with no state-of-the-art facility, no enthusiastic fans, no potential owner with deep pockets, and no team.

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