Bettman on ESPNNEWS

[Corp000085]

report:

 

 

-thoughts on penalties--officials instructed to call game as they have done in the reg. season. Plenty of Cryer clips during his talk. Bettman told the officials that there was no officiating change from the reg. season to the playoffs. "skeptics thought that officiating could not be maintained, well, it has".

 

-"new nhl" question--probelms in the past were not just the rules, it was everything. Differences between the 20 million payroll teams and the $80 million teams. Better competitive balance results in fair play and officiating.

 

-financial health--Some teams will still lose money. nhl has economic stability. 30 economically healthy teams.

 

-thoughts on oln and nbc--espn was a good partner. wow, he just ripped espn for crappy coverage. praises oln for giving nhl a good chance. nbc's storytelling (whatever that means) and coverage is good. Mentioned "work in progress" a few times. NHL came back as strong as it could have for taking a year off.

 

 

 

 

 

ok, the lawn gnome gave a good lawyer talk, but it was all positive. I loved that he ripped espn's hockey coverage while they had the nhl contract. put brian kenny in his place. Obviously, bettman's respect was starting at zero for me, but its definitely gone up since the end of the lockout. Again, it was subtle, and in lawyer talk, but he tore apart ESPN's former hockey coverage. Awesome.

[Rock DJ]

I don't expect to ever be a Buttman fan, but I won't ever hate him either, only for what he did to help keep the Sabres going when he could have just as easily let this team fold up tents.

[Knightrider]

My "respect" started to improve when the NHL took over and didn't just fold the team... It almost makes up for '99.