The Executive Committee of the Governors’ Office of the National Hockey League (NHL) began preparations for a retirement by Commissioner Gary Bettman in a few years.
This is suggested by the owner of the Wild of Minnesota Craig Leipold, himself a member of the aforementioned committee, during an interview with the Balado The Sick Podcast / The Eye Test with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy.
“It was in a few years and we started planning to be sure to make the right decision when he left,” he said during his intervention.
Invited to deepen his remarks by the journalist of the media The Athletic Michael Russo, Leipold said that he has had certain concerns, since Bettman has held the functions of commissioner for almost 33 years and he will, according to the owner of the Wild, difficult, Otherwise impossible, to replace.
“The truth is that we will not be able to find someone as good as Gary,” said Leipold, as quoted by Russo. You have to find the second person better qualified and wonder if it will be enough. ”
Speaking of the wolf, Bettman also attended the match between Utah and the Wild, Thursday evening in Minnesota, and he was kind enough to sting a touch of jasette with Russo in the Leipold lodge.
The main interested party has clarified that he did not surround a date for his retirement.
-“I recently raised the fact that at one point, the league will have to deal with this situation [ma retraite]because it is always more complicated as a process when a commissioner has assumed these functions for such a long period, ”said Bettman, 72.
It is presumed that his right arm Bill Daly, 60, would be expected to replace him.
If Bettman is not unanimous in Canada, the commissioner made the NHL a multimillionaire company during his reign, in addition to having exponentially growing hockey in the United States.
Bettman, who previously worked at the NBA, was a commissioner for three work conflicts, including a lockout which led to the complete cancellation of the 2004-2005 season and which caused the establishment of a salary ceiling.
“I just wanted this scenario [mon éventuel retraite] either on the radar [des membres du comité exécutif]explained Bettman, who said, however, having provided any schedule. When you have lost energy and passion, you have no choice but to think about it. But the good news is that I still have both. I love what I do and that’s probably something that I will like more than retirement. I am not made for retirement. ”
The financial statements of the League have been considerably cleansed up the pandemic. In fact, the clues have never been so green, so that the salary ceiling could smash the $ 100 million mark in the coming years.
