The unthinkable...did Bettman save hockey??

[capsfan30]

So, Tampa won the Stanley Cup. Congrats to them and their fans. We're not here to talk about them. We're here to discuss whether Gary Bettman saved not just the season, but hockey in general.

We all know by now that the players did not care for living in the bubble during the playoffs. That's pretty much a fact at this point. However, out of the 33,000 COVID tests run, there were 0 positives. ZERO (I don't have the link to the article I read that on handy, so if someone else has one and can link it, it would be appreciated). That in itself is just remarkable to me, with how much it is still spreading around.

After watching and listening to what Bettman has said the last few months, I think he's been pretty spot-on with everything. The Return to Play, waiting until the last possible moments to make decisions with all of the information available to make them on. Not rushing anything.

As much as we all dislike him, I think he's done a pretty amazing job regarding all of the confusion and chaos going on. I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks.

 

[cygnusx1]

Personally I've never understood the hate. The guy has grown the game immensely in pretty much every aspect throughout his tenure.

 

[27Leafs27]

I agree and have to give the commish credit for doing a nice job under such unusual circumstances.
Dan.

 

[TanguayFan]

The NHL did a FANTASTIC job, considering what they had to work with.

However, it is still to hard to say if what kind of damage has been done to the game, considering the apathy towards the product that was presented. A lot of fans that I know tuned out altogether. Myself, I couldn't stand to watch the games, however, I got a lot of enjoyment listening to them on radio like they did in the good ol' days, because the feeling and atmosphere was the same without the visual cues to distort things.

The lack of a high profile team with broad fan bases in the SCF certainly didn't help either, no disrespect to either franchise or their fans.

 

[weasel-king]

I think it'll rebound fine. Down here in North Carolina, we don't have hockey on multiple networks usually, but it was good to see it spread across NHL Network, NBC, even USA for some reason. Hopefully there was enough viewership so that we see it here on more channels than just NHL Network.

 

[30ranfordfan]

For the record: I don't dislike him at all, and I think it's disgrace how fans treat him. IMO, he's done an excellent job that stretches decades.

How the NHL handled COVID, I honestly can't think of something they should have done differently. It was executed brilliantly.

Next season will be interesting. I think Bettman still has his work cut out for him... and finishing off the 2019-20 season will look easy, compared to the mess that 2020-21 is going to be.

 

[capsfan30]

Personally I've never understood the hate. The guy has grown the game immensely in pretty much every aspect throughout his tenure.

For the record: I don't dislike him at all, and I think it's disgrace how fans treat him. IMO, he's done an excellent job that stretches decades.

How the NHL handled COVID, I honestly can't think of something they should have done differently. It was executed brilliantly.

Next season will be interesting. I think Bettman still has his work cut out for him... and finishing off the 2019-20 season will look easy, compared to the mess that 2020-21 is going to be.

I agree, I never really understood the hate towards him either.

The NHL did a FANTASTIC job, considering what they had to work with.

However, it is still to hard to say if what kind of damage has been done to the game, considering the apathy towards the product that was presented. A lot of fans that I know tuned out altogether. Myself, I couldn't stand to watch the games, however, I got a lot of enjoyment listening to them on radio like they did in the good ol' days, because the feeling and atmosphere was the same without the visual cues to distort things.

The lack of a high profile team with broad fan bases in the SCF certainly didn't help either, no disrespect to either franchise or their fans.

That's fair, I understand the situation wasn't for everyone. It's not what any of us wanted, but it's what we got. And for what we got, I thought it was very well done given the circumstances. I wish my Caps had actually shown up to play, because I love our radio announcer. I thought it was funny, though, knowing that the commentary (both TV and radio) were done remotely while they were similarly watching the games on TV :laugh:

 

[will-411]

Worst watched Stanley Cup finals in the modern era...

https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/traikos-ratings-showed-that-few-of-you-watched-the-stanley-cup

Lots going against it this year, including two teams that didn't generate any ancilliary viewership in either the US or Canada.

No set date for when hockey might come back... they are a gate driven league, with no immediate chance for a gate.

The salary cap set to be stagnant for 3 years, and is based on a percentage of revenue.

I think given the circumstances, Bettman and the league did a phenomenal job of salvaging the 19/20 season, and did the best they could with it, exceeding expectations. I'll give him credit for that. His inability to grow the league into more than a 5th place novelty in the majority of the US however is what's going to keep it on the sidelines. This is maybe a case of won the battle, lost the war.

Mind you, I don't know if anyone could have done better overall, so again, Gary and the league have done the best with the hand they have. It just might not be enough.

Cory

 

[creasecollector]

Personally I've never understood the hate. The guy has grown the game immensely in pretty much every aspect throughout his tenure.

I agree.

His hate could be comparable to the band Nickleback here in Canada. People hate on Nickleback so much that it's a running joke at this point - not because they are a terrible band.

So, with Bettmen, I think a lot of people hate on him "because everyone else does", but not actually because they actually dislike the guy. I think Bettman knows this, which is why we've seen him make fun of himself and the curtain of boo's that follow him around.

 

[capsfan30]

Worst watched Stanley Cup finals in the modern era...

https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/traikos-ratings-showed-that-few-of-you-watched-the-stanley-cup

Lots going against it this year, including two teams that didn't generate any ancilliary viewership in either the US or Canada.

No set date for when hockey might come back... they are a gate driven league, with no immediate chance for a gate.

The salary cap set to be stagnant for 3 years, and is based on a percentage of revenue.

I think given the circumstances, Bettman and the league did a phenomenal job of salvaging the 19/20 season, and did the best they could with it, exceeding expectations. I'll give him credit for that. His inability to grow the league into more than a 5th place novelty in the majority of the US however is what's going to keep it on the sidelines. This is maybe a case of won the battle, lost the war.

Mind you, I don't know if anyone could have done better overall, so again, Gary and the league have done the best with the hand they have. It just might not be enough.

Cory

That's not entirely surprising. Two sun-belt teams that don't exactly have huge fan bases to begin with. No Canadian teams after the first two (non play-in) rounds. That all leads to a huge downer of a year in terms of ratings.

But, we had hockey. In August/September, no less.

I'd also like to point out that I was only referring to this year, not his tenure as Commissioner overall. That's a conversation for another day

 

[Burner]

A lot of the games and series' were just not very entertaining. It seemed like several teams were riding hot goaltending and just sucked the life out of the game (Vancouver, Dallas, NYI) or had no business being in the playoffs in general (Arizona, Montreal, Chicago, Carolina) or the series' were just horribly lopsided (lots of 4-1 series wins). I still watched my fair share but I can honestly say that not one single game stood out to me and Tampa pretty much cruised to the Cup.

I had no issue with the actual way the playoffs were done with the bubble and no fans. I loved having 3-4 games a day back to back starting from AM to PM. I thought the league did a great job of handling the entire playoffs given the circumstances. I just thought the actual product on the ice was extremely boring.

 

[dismonkey1]

Watching the bubble games was maybe less exciting and probably tough for the players. It is the same for the NBA and the NFL with no fans. Not really the same experience. With that being said, it went about as well as it could. So kudos to Bettman and the league for pulling it off (and with no Covid cases).

 

[BlindThomen]

A lot of the games and series' were just not very entertaining. It seemed like several teams were riding hot goaltending and just sucked the life out of the game (Vancouver, Dallas, NYI) or had no business being in the playoffs in general (Arizona, Montreal, Chicago, Carolina) or the series' were just horribly lopsided (lots of 4-1 series wins). I still watched my fair share but I can honestly say that not one single game stood out to me and Tampa pretty much cruised to the Cup.

I had no issue with the actual way the playoffs were done with the bubble and no fans. I loved having 3-4 games a day back to back starting from AM to PM. I thought the league did a great job of handling the entire playoffs given the circumstances. I just thought the actual product on the ice was extremely boring.

I don't really get the first paragraph of this post. 1.) Doesn't some teams always ride hot goaltending in the playoffs? 2.) Carolina was 6th in the east when the regular season was stopped. 3.) There was actually no substantially more 4-1 series' than the past couple of years. In 2019 there were four series sweeps and two in 2018. Not one in 2020.

- Sauli

 

[quincy]

Of all the sports that returned to play, only two managed smooth, uninterrupted play (social forces notwithstanding) - the NHL and the NBA. Both the NFL and MLB have been stung by COVID positives.

For all the critiques, Bettman and team put together a well-organized, well-run and generally well-received salvation of the 2019-20 season, and have a rational workable plan for the next one. Whatever your issues with Bettman, you cannot say that he can't put together a good product.