Madferret
7-18-05, 11:55 AM
Quitting should top Bettman's agenda
By STEVE SIMMONS, Toronto Sun
Gary Bettman should announce that a deal has been done -- and then follow it up with one more announcement. His own resignation.
In the best interests of the NHL and its future, Bettman should leave now. His work is done. The collective bargaining agreement will be ratified by midweek. A new landscape has been paved for hockey owners. The labour wars are over.
Now it's time to build and he is no builder. That much history has proven. Now it is new time for the NHL and it needs a fresh voice, a fresh face, someone to speak for the league, someone the jaded public can believe in, someone the players won't view as destructive, not someone associated with failure.
It won't happen, of course, because Bettman never has understood how badly he projects, how preachy he sounds, how little the public trusts about him. It won't happen -- but it should.
THIS AND THAT: Wayne Gretzky may not have officially signed on to coach the Phoenix Coyotes, but he is out there actively looking for assistants to fill out his staff, which tells you he is taking the job ... That was small-time of the Vancouver Canucks not allowing Brian Burke to hire Randy Carlyle out of Winnipeg. You don't prevent minor-league coaches from taking major-league jobs ... Three teams that will pay Gary Roberts more than the Maple Leafs will offer: Anaheim, Florida and Ottawa ... Keep hearing it, but it's unconfirmed, that Glen Sather and friends lost a last-ditch fight to have 20 teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Looks like the old format of 16 -- something that actually works in the NHL -- will remain the same ... Does anybody really care what Rob Ray thinks about anything? ... The worst places for Sidney Crosby to wind up: Nashville, Atlanta or Florida.
By STEVE SIMMONS, Toronto Sun
Gary Bettman should announce that a deal has been done -- and then follow it up with one more announcement. His own resignation.
In the best interests of the NHL and its future, Bettman should leave now. His work is done. The collective bargaining agreement will be ratified by midweek. A new landscape has been paved for hockey owners. The labour wars are over.
Now it's time to build and he is no builder. That much history has proven. Now it is new time for the NHL and it needs a fresh voice, a fresh face, someone to speak for the league, someone the jaded public can believe in, someone the players won't view as destructive, not someone associated with failure.
It won't happen, of course, because Bettman never has understood how badly he projects, how preachy he sounds, how little the public trusts about him. It won't happen -- but it should.
THIS AND THAT: Wayne Gretzky may not have officially signed on to coach the Phoenix Coyotes, but he is out there actively looking for assistants to fill out his staff, which tells you he is taking the job ... That was small-time of the Vancouver Canucks not allowing Brian Burke to hire Randy Carlyle out of Winnipeg. You don't prevent minor-league coaches from taking major-league jobs ... Three teams that will pay Gary Roberts more than the Maple Leafs will offer: Anaheim, Florida and Ottawa ... Keep hearing it, but it's unconfirmed, that Glen Sather and friends lost a last-ditch fight to have 20 teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Looks like the old format of 16 -- something that actually works in the NHL -- will remain the same ... Does anybody really care what Rob Ray thinks about anything? ... The worst places for Sidney Crosby to wind up: Nashville, Atlanta or Florida.