LAKESIDE – I'm somewhat certain that a few of you may have just spit out your coffee or whatever you were drinking. Some of you may have sat up in your chairs a bit taller for a better view of your paper or screen, but let me explain this week's headline.
I wrote that "Bettman dislikes the Wild." Do I mean that literally? Not in total. I don't believe that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hates Minnesota or the Wild. But after being an NHL and Gary Bettman apologist for the past several years I can hardly come to any conclusion other than I believe he at least holds some internal disdain there.
14 comments
I mean he’s not wrong. And it’s interesting some of the context that I had never thought about.
His premise is backed by very flimsy evidence.
Ah, some old school weirdo ranting in a paper.
He doesn’t hate MN. There is no larger conspiracy around MN. Everything the league does is to make the biggest pile of money possible, that’s it.
Bettman probably loves the state of hockey, because he knows we’ll stay invested in the Wild while he engineers cup wins for “emerging hockey markets”
> But after being an NHL and Gary Bettman apologist for the past several years
[*the sound of credibility flying out the window*]
My theory is that Bettman shafts Minnesota because they’re a smaller market farm state. We grow players and programs including prep, college players for the league. As a business you’d want players to leave mn to support other owners/markets. If legislators in mn passed a law tomorrow that said mn born players receive state tax free earning from the nhl…we would probably be pretty damn good much to the chagrin of bettman and Daly his partner in crime.
ownerships, front offices and a majority of the fanbase being content with mediocrity have done enough to hold this franchise back, Bettman doesn’t need to lift a finger.
Leopold nows people will come cash in fist regardless of the product on the ice so there is no incentive to invest in building a contender, just one good enough to keep the lemmings exited for another first round exit.
After this upcoming season, Wild make some serious moves. At least I hope so lol. I’m not a Wild fan, just hoping things turn around for them once they get out of that dead cap nightmare
Do yall have an editor there? I noticed 2 typos/fuck-ups within the first minute or 2 of reading this.
Bettman has said numerous times publicly if he was commissioner six months earlier there is no way the North Stars would have moved to Dallas. He and the NHL consider Minnesota their overall number one market on and off the ice in the country. So no he does not hate Minnesota or the Wild.
Ah, yes. The Duluth Reader, the 7th most popular outlet in the Duluth Metro.
The location of Lakeside really helps this read like someone asked the guy about Bettman while he was fishing and someone wrote it down.
He is allowed to hinder MN in any feasible way, simply because MN will support pro hockey. It’s why he was able to take the North Stars. We came right back. Minnesotans are so predictable. Switch the Blackhawks with the North Stars. Pro hockey in CHI would never be the same.