Hockey Beef Wednesday

I have decided to make Wednesday right now my day to grip about something wrong with hockey and how it can improve. Although I highly doubt the NHL will look at my suggestions on this, I can prove that my side is very accurate and what should be done. First topic, the supreme douche bag of the universe, AKA Gary Bettman.

Bettman was originally involved in the NBA under commissioner David Stern (Who has also had his own problem with officials and does nothing about it). Stern's theory is to showcase the stars, give the stars special treatment, and so on and so forth. Bettman was offered an opportunity to become the lead man in the NHL and took the post February 1, 1993. 1993, is also the only year that Gary Bettman has been involved with the NHL where a Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup and he was only there for the last quarter of the season and playoffs. Constant calls against Canadian teams have had people wondering if there is a bias by Bettman against Canadian teams, some of these are:

1994 SCF Game 7, Canuck goal called back for Trevor Linden's toe being in the crease, no interference on play.
2004 SCF Game 4, I am Flames hater and I think they got fucked over in that game, even Sutter called the integrity of Bettman into question in the post game interview. Fans so furious, the NHL removed official Kerry Fraser who was suppose to officiate Game 6 in Calgary and him officiate Game 7 in Tampa Bay, yes, the officiating was that bad the fans would have lynched him.
There are more of these but, back to the case at hand.

When Bettman first started in the NHL there were 24 teams with 2 expansions teams on the way being the Florida Panthers and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Bettman continued to expand and relocate teams into southern markets, in places where the only ice people see is in there cups. Bettman has also relocated teams whose owners were in or close to bankruptcy, the three that have happened are Hartford Whalers to Raleigh, North Carolina now known as the Carolina Hurricanes, the Quebec Nordiques to Denver, Colorado now the Colorado Avalanche, and the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix, Arizona now the Phoenix Coyotes. The only one of these markets to have done well is Colorado which actually has some knowledge of snow and ice.

Bettman has also refused to move teams back to Canada. Jim Balsille, a Canadian based entrepreneur, has tried to buy a team from a struggling southern market and tried to move them to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Balsille first tried to buy the Nashville Predators in 2007, the deal did not go through and Balsille has accused Bettman of telling the Predators to end negotiations with him. Similar things have happened when Balsille has tried to purchase the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a long dispute when trying to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.

Bettman has also been responsible for the two lockouts of the NHL including being the first pro sports organization to cancel an entire season.

Bettman has also shown an anti-Canadian side when it comes to television with the playoffs. Even though CBC pays huge money to broadcast the game, NBC (Who pays nothing up front to the NHL) is given the first choice of playoff times. The only times I have seen an NBC broadcast is between 10 am start and a 12 pm start here in Saskatchewan, and these games have only featured the following until the playoffs:
Washington Capitals
Pittsburgh Penguins
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
If there were any more during the regular season, I didn't spot them, not to mention they have an awful team calling the games in Mike Emrick, who is good as a Devils regional announcer, Pierre Maguire, who is as qualified as me for being a commentator (He has a passion and a knowledge for the game, that is it), and sometimes Ed Olzyck who can provide some insight but other times sounds like a complete fool.

Bettman has also implemented some of the dumbest rules in hockey such as, no tag offside and the instigator penalty.

Bettman has also created a profit sharing plan for the 30 NHL teams, which means if your franchise makes a ton of profit, it gets split up to help the teams that don't make money to help them stay financially afloat. This is absolutely stupid. Why would you keep teams in a market where they have continued to fail to make money? This is what any logical businessman would do:
This market isn't making any money, why? Is it location? Is it not being marketed properly there? Are people to infatuated with other sports teams there to go to the teams game? Do people not care about hockey there?
If you were looking at this like a chain store, lets say Wal-Mart, if the store continued to not make profits would Wal-Mart keep it open, they would probably take the following steps before deciding:

1. Are the products we are supplying to them not right for them
2. Is the Wal-Mart hard to get to
3. Are people aware of the store here
4. Are people in this community that much against us (The City of Vancouver has continually barred attempts from letting a Wal-Mart into the city)
There are probably more questions they would ask but I'm not exactly sure what they would be.

This concludes my first hockey beef, and in the meantime, keep your stick on the ice.