[CaptainCrunch]

I don't believe that Bettman had veto power in 94/95. I remember reading in Dohbiggen's book Money players that the big market owners like Snyder in Philly basically said F the small market teams we need to get back on the ice, and went around Bettman and brokered a deal with the union and forced the NHL to accept it.

hhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994%..._lockoutttp://

After the lockout had dragged on talk on for certain time the talk of salary cap faded and new items entered the debate. Talk of rookie salary cap, changes to the arbitration system, and loosened free agency. However, large market teams such as Toronto, Detroit, the New York Rangers, Dallas, and Philadelphia eventually broke with the league, as they feared that an extended lockout would outweigh the benefits from getting a salary cap and didn't want to be the first league in North America to forfeit an entire season just to help out their small-market colleagues.[6]

http://icehockey.wikia.com/wiki/Gary_Bettman

2004–05 lockoutEdit

By the end of the deal in 2004, the owners were claiming that player salaries had grown far faster than revenues, and that the league as a whole lost over US$300 million in 2002–03.
As a result, on September 15, 2004, Bettman announced that the owners again locked the players out prior to the start of the 2004–05 season. Three months later, Bettman announced the cancellation of the entire season with the words "It is my sad duty to announce that because a solution has not yet been attained, it is no longer practical to conduct even an abbreviated season. Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play." The NHL became the first North American league to cancel an entire season because of a labor stoppage.
As in 1994, the owners' position was predicated around the need for a salary cap. In an effort to ensure solidarity amongst the owners, the league's governors voted to give Bettman the right to unilaterally veto any union offer as long as he had the backing of just eight owners. The players initially favored luxury tax system, and a 5% rollback on player salaries — later increased to 24%. As the threat of a canceled season loomed, the players agreed to accept a salary cap, but the two sides could not come to terms on numbers before the deadline expired

The biggest thing outside of the Veto was that Bettman forced all of the teams to stock pile cash leading up to the next lock out, so they could sit the league on the side lines for over a year and starve the players into a deal.