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Bettman isn't ready to commit for 2006
By Tim Buckley
Deseret News sports writer
WEST VALLEY CITY — A defensive NHL commissioner made no commitment Tuesday to participation by players from his league in future Winter Olympics and suggested international hockey should consider itself blessed by the presence of the world's greatest hockey players in Salt Lake.
Speaking in a news conference at the E Center, Gary Bettman implied International Ice Hockey Federation rules — including a bigger ice surface, and the essential absence of a red line — are not the reason men's hockey has played to rave reviews at the Winter Games.
"I know there's been a lot of talk about how good the hockey's been in (the final round), and it has been. It's been terrific. But I would respectfully suggest the biggest reason for that is not the nuance difference in a couple of rules," said Bettman, who did concede that the league would consider adopting a variation of one — allowing only 15 seconds between faceoffs — as a means of speeding up the game.
"It isn't the difference between having the red-line pass or not. It isn't the difference in the icing rule," he added. "They are all factors, and they are things we're looking at. . . . But the biggest reason we're seeing the impact is because of the fact you have 120 of the best hockey players in the world."
The NHLers are here only because of a contractual agreement among the IIHF, the NHL and the NHL Players Association.
NHLPA chief Bob Goodenow said union members are pleased to be taking part, too.
"The opportunity to play in the Olympics is treasured," he said, adding that after the addition of NHLers to the Olympics in both Nagano in 1998 and Salt Lake this year, "there could be a legacy that will live on."
But Bettman reiterated his longstanding stance that the NHL will not decide until after the 2002 Games are over if it will again interrupt its season so its players can go to the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy.
"At the end of the day," Bettman said, "we have to make sure it doesn't negatively impact our season and our playoffs. . . . I don't know what the future's gonna hold. . . . On balance, if it is good for the game, good for the players and good for our fans, then it is going to have to be seriously considered."
The NHL also wants to be sure it does not wind up with more negative publicity than positive as a result of participating.
Already, the league has absorbed a black eye — undeserved, according to Bettman — over a flap involving release of NHLers for preliminary-round play held prior to the league's actual closing the final and medal rounds.
Some came, others did not, and many — because the NHL would not permit them to miss league games — were not able to play in every prelim game for their nation.
Slovakia, a country loaded with NHLers, was particularly hard-hit, though Bettman maintains Slovakian hockey officials told him Monday night that they were OK with everything.
Countered Goodenow: "Hopefully, we learn by what's happened."
One problem for the league is that it doesn't want to interrupt its season for more than 12 days, and IIHF officials were insistent on spreading hockey over 16 days during the Games. Bettman doesn't seem as if he will budge on the issue, meaning the IIHF — which desperately wants the NHLers back — must concede some changes if it's all to work out in Torino.
Said Bettman: "They may have to look at how they structure their tournament."
Bettman addressed several other issues Tuesday, including these:
- Comments by American coach Herb Brooks and American forward Brett Hull regarding opening up the way NHL hockey is played. Bettman was dismissive of both, saying Brooks " . . . tends to have a short memory . . . " when he suggests the commissioner ignores his recommendations for change, and that the outspoken Hull " . . . says a lot of things . . . "
- The fact Canadian captain Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins admitted he skipped NHL games so he would be as healthy as possible for the Olympics — something apparently in direct conflict with the notion the NHL would not permit players (save for their own self-designated special exceptions) to miss league games because of the Winter Games. Bettman dismissed this, too, claiming "actually, I'm not sure that's what Mario said." He also argued the NHL has "no double-standard" for its stars vs. its marginal players.
- Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky's comments that when NHL play resumes retribution would be awaiting Czech Republic defenseman Roman Hamrlik, who cross-checked Canada's Theo Fleury at the end of a game Monday. "I don't think our ice is the venue for payback," Bettman said.
Bettman said changes to NHL rules will be considered based on what is seen in Salt Lake, but he didn't sound as if he favored any sort of radical alterations.
"Whenever we make changes, we get criticized for tinkering with the game," he said. "Whenever we don't make changes, we get criticized for not tinkering with the game."
However, if the NHL is playing four years from now, IIHF officials just hope time is taken for participation by everyone in a competition that — most of the world would probably agree, even if Bettman wouldn't — is bigger than any individual league.
That, though, is work for another day. First, there is 2002 men's hockey Olympic gold to be awarded on Sunday.
"We are so busy here," IIHF president Rene Fasel said, "that we will start to think about that . . . on Monday."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com
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February 20, 2002
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