***2012 NHL Offseason Thread***

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by DaFace

If you've got half an hour to burn, here's Bettman's press conference. I'll give him credit - he seems genuinely pissed and actually does a reasonable job of explaining why.

http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip822014#clip822014

My knowledge of the NHL and the history of this process and relationship is very minimal but I sat down and watched that out of curiosity.

Bettman is pretty much universally disliked and there are probably good reasons for that but as someone ignorant to his past dealings he comes off as very sincere and its hard not to side with his perspective here.

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

My knowledge of the NHL and the history of this process and relationship is very minimal but I sat down and watched that out of curiosity.

Bettman is pretty much universally disliked and there are probably good reasons for that but as someone ignorant to his past dealings he comes off as very sincere and its hard not to side with his perspective here.

Bettman is a piece of shit. You need to do a little bit more research on him I think.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

Bettman is a piece of shit. You need to do a little bit more research on him I think.

Tell me more. What do you think he was offbase with in that video.

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Tell me more. What do you think he was offbase with in that video.

Where to begin. Well first off I don't usually side with players in these situations. I don't even this time. After making me miss an entire season less then 10 years ago both these sides can seriously go **** themselves. I am not arguing that everything he is asking for is outrageous.

The players offered a proposal and he and the owners didn't even come and see it. The closest thing to an extension of an olive branch and he didn't have the time to see it. There are other egos involved but his is as big as any of them and equates to an enormous part of the problem. Any of the owners who wants to give gets snuffed out by Bettman. He isn't about peace, he is about power.

The guy is trying to ADD more teams despite having to keep some of them on life support now. He doesn't care about stability, he cares about making more money now. The rulings that have been handed down over the years from the league office have been as consistent as Matt Cassel.

He let Colin Cambell be his right-hand man and discipline enforcer for years. An article came out proving Cambell was admitting to bias and running things the wrong way and Bettman did nothing. Check out the national schedule each week. The Rangers and Penguins every ****ing week. He claims he wants to grow the game yet does nothing but try to push up the top 4 markets and **** over the rest. The guy would shoot you down if it meant him finding a way to get the Rangers and Crosby in the finals at the same time.

Footnote, I am biased towards him since he tried to move the Devils out of NJ in 95 all the time lying about it and LIVING in NJ.

I am just touching on a very vague and brief part of what is wrong with Bettman. Issues from the previous lockout would add to this but I am not going to site them off the top of my head. The players are a joke too, but nobody beats out Bettman, not even Stern or Goodell.

I have basically sworn off following the NHL until this is resolved so I am not going to dive into old articles ect. to make my point. Just thinking about what this league is doing makes my blood boil. I can't handle thinking about it.

You can think what you want, but going off this one video and judging his intent off it is a mistake. In my opinion Bettman's intent is only to fill his own ego as much as possible. He knows how to put up a good face to those not looking closely enough though. Put Bettman and the jackass Fehr together and you get a disaster. Amazingly its not going to trump the last disaster, one Bettman was also in the middle of. Work stoppage number 4 for Gary Bettman and co.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

My knowledge of the NHL and the history of this process and relationship is very minimal but I sat down and watched that out of curiosity.

Bettman is pretty much universally disliked and there are probably good reasons for that but as someone ignorant to his past dealings he comes off as very sincere and its hard not to side with his perspective here.

He's kind of like Obama, or any politician for that matter... he's pretty good at talking the talk, but the history paints a completely different picture. He's currently dealing with his 3rd lockout in his 20 year tenure, and possibly his second cancelled season in 8 years. His strategy completely failed and has left the players insulted and unwilling to work with him, and not even a mediator could help them. I'd be pissed, too.

I'm no teedubya when it comes to conspiracy theories, and this is 5 years old, but it's still my all-time favorite article on Bettman, just to give you a little more insight...
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=dw-bettman012907

[Otter]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

He's kind of like Obama, or any politician for that matter... he's pretty good at talking the talk, but the history paints a completely different picture. He's currently dealing with his 3rd lockout in his 20 year tenure, and possibly his second cancelled season in 8 years. His strategy completely failed and has left the players insulted and unwilling to work with him, and not even a mediator could help them. I'd be pissed, too.

I'm no teedubya when it comes to conspiracy theories, and this is 5 years old, but it's still my all-time favorite article on Bettman, just to give you a little more insight...
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=dw-bettman012907

This is Bettman's NHL. Fourteen years, four bankruptcies, three franchise moves, two lockouts, one lost season and no effective leadership. The business is so sick that the Pittsburgh Penguins, despite a loyal fan base and the most promising talent since Gretzky, are 50-50 to move to that noted hockey hotbed of Kansas City.