Gary Bettman Needs to Resign

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flames1217

I hope he does.



I live in Quebec City and it is a major hockey market. Unfortunately for us we will never get a team while Bettman is at the helm of things.

I would thinkthat Bettmzn probably represents the best chance for QC to get a franchise. There has been no greater advocate at the NHL for hockey in Canada in the last two decades.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Bettman runs the league's business operations. He doesn't run the individual franchises. Joel Quenneville has been held responsible because he was Brad Aldrich's direct superior, and Stan Bowman has been held responsible because he had the power to fire Aldrich. Bettman wasn't in the chain of command at all. He didn't have the legal authority to intervene, and anything he would have to say on the matter would be legally considered hearsay.

What some people seem to overlook is that the NHL is not the police. Sexual assault isn't a violation of the rules of hockey; it's a crime. This whole matter should have been in the hands of the police and the courts from the beginning. The people directly involved deserve punishment because they covered it up to keep law enforcement from getting involved. Bettman's attitude in this whole matter has been unhelpful, and he has at least two feet firmly wedged in his mouth, but he is not one of the guilty parties.

This has nothing to do with my point, though.

The example of JQ was only brought up to say that if we follow the same logic, then Bettman being at the behest of his employers is not a valid excuse. Not to implicate Gary somehow.

I don’t think anyone is overlooking that the NHL is not the police. I think people are questioning the seriousness with which the NHL takes racism and sexual assault, a seriousness for which Bettman is, in fact, responsible.

[Knightslayer]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

They do similar things with players like Brian McGratten, which is why I said I was surprised they never discussed something with Kennedy.

Brian Mcgrattan had drug and alcohol problems while he was in the NHL and likely a big part of those problems were because he was in the NHL. So makes sense he would work with NHL players in that capacity.

Kennedy wasn't abused as an NHLer and sexual assault isn't a rampant problem in the NHL. Not sure what he can bring to the table that a professional trained counselor can't.

Edit: if I'm Kennedy why would I even want the job? He can help way more people by not being an NHL employee.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by iggyloob12

"Cancel culture" is laughable. If Bettman is feeling heat it's because of his leadership missteps on the Beach scandal. His performance at today's press conference didn't convince anyone he's the right person to lead the NHL through this.

Clearly the owners think otherwise, so its kind of moot - but anyways, my argument about cancel culture is around the instantaneous demands that someone be fired any time there is some disagreement, misstep, or imperfect response.

There are other remedies that are more constructive to just firing everyone over everything.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by fleury

I have to say, normally Gary doesn't get caught with his pants down. He's probably among the best at his job than anyone I know. He thinks incredibly fast. Today what were they thinking with that set up? It looked like an amateur situation simply based on the makeshift set up. Camera off angle and all. Looked like Bert and Ernie with shirt and tie with the audience sequestering them. Just a bad PR set up.

Generally any time there is a Zoom (or whatever) type of call, the background and setup is very carefully chosen to make a statement. I believe the statement here is "business being approachable"...hence the ties, but no jackets, the somewhat relaxed atmosphere and the (I think deliberate) angling of the camera. They didn't want to appear "too lawyerlike" with full jackets etc., so went for a more easy-to-relate-to appearance.

Whether it was appropriate or whether it worked in their favour or not is a debate.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

I’m not sure what you mean. We know of several nhl players by name who were abused and then that carried through their lives.

If you mean coverups within the NHL, that’s not what I’m talking about. They have a union to protect the health and well being of current players. That includes lingering effects of past trauma…. Leading to drugs and alcohol typically.

I mean the drug and alcohol use are actually happening at the NHL level, so they can use people to deal with those directly.

This is the first case of the actual sexual abuse happening at the NHL level. Now, sure there are dozens of cases from junior. But the after-effects manifest in things that I am not sure the league can deal with specifically, aside from having a general policy for players to access for psychological and emotional problems (like Price just invoked).

[iggyloob12]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Clearly the owners think otherwise, so its kind of moot - but anyways, my argument about cancel culture is around the instantaneous demands that someone be fired any time there is some disagreement, misstep, or imperfect response.

There are other remedies that are more constructive to just firing everyone over everything.

Cancel culture is also an easy term to throw about to minimize the seriousness of an issue and to avoid responsibility. There’s a lot at stake for the NHL if they continue to get this wrong and look completely regressive in their responses. The owners are probably hoping to weather the PR storm but I think they’ll have to wait it out for a long time yet.

[Knightslayer]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Clearly the owners think otherwise, so its kind of moot - but anyways, my argument about cancel culture is around the instantaneous demands that someone be fired any time there is some disagreement, misstep, or imperfect response.

There are other remedies that are more constructive to just firing everyone over everything.

Agreed. Especially calling for Bettman to be fired. That is kinda silly to be honest.

[cam_wmh]

Ya know, side-bar but the HDA is doing itself no favours having Kane amongst it's 9.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

The problem is that after how many years, people still haven't figured out that Gary Bettman is a lawyer, not a PR person. They keep asking him questions and getting upset when they get lawyer answers vs PR answers.

It's crazy. People don't want to talk to PR people, because they want "the real truth" but they also seem to never like "the real truth" when a non-PR person says it.

Ah yes, people don't like lawyer answers because they tell "the real truth". That's it, for sure.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Clearly the owners think otherwise, so its kind of moot - but anyways, my argument about cancel culture is around the instantaneous demands that someone be fired any time there is some disagreement, misstep, or imperfect response.

There are other remedies that are more constructive to just firing everyone over everything.

I don't know how you can say that "clearly" the owners are behind Bettman's leadership here. I suspect many were disgusted by that press conference. They may even be thinking it is time for someone new.

[Bs&Cs]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

I don't know how you can say that "clearly" the owners are behind Bettman's leadership here. I suspect many were disgusted by that press conference. They may even be thinking it is time for someone new.

Let's be real here... I sincerely doubt a single one of them even watched it.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Bs&Cs

Let's be real here... I sincerely doubt a single one of them even watched it.

You really don't think they care what their spokesman is saying about how their organization covered up sexual assault?

I think they really do care.

[Yamer]

Tara Slone explains her editorializing of Bettman's press conference from a perspective a lot of us have right now. The first part of Bettman's response to LeBrun's question simply didn't need to be said. At all. It doesn't need to be defended because it's understandable, it needs to be admonished as more of the same old crap we get from this league when controversy arises.

It runs down the dickish hierarchy ladder of deny, deflect, and then dismiss.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1455529659479859217

[Red_Baron]

Nothing to do with the main subject matter of the thread but I'm wondering about Bettman's health.

I know people have talked about the head twitching in the past but it looked like his right arm was starting to shake a bit too. I found a few threads on Reddit with people asking if he had Parkinson's disease but no one confirming if he has a medical condition that causes his twitching.

[Torture]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1455521526263033858

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

Nothing to do with the main subject matter of the thread but I'm wondering about Bettman's health.

I know people have talked about the head twitching in the past but it looked like his right arm was starting to shake a bit too. I found a few threads on Reddit with people asking if he had Parkinson's disease but no one confirming if he has a medical condition that causes his twitching.

On that note something has been up for awhile. He's always had that twitching style to his talking but there seems to be more of that the past couple years. I hope he's alright.


As for Tara, I'm sure her heart is in the right place, but again, she's pulling on emotions to connect when there aren't a ton of widespead issues out in the public. The league has been slow, I think most would agree for any social justice stances, but what the hell does she expect? Not that I have to say this, but I'm a minority, should minorities be given token positions just because? Should women be given positions just because? These are things that need to be changed over time so that positions are filled just because they fill a box. Great that her heart is in the right place, but what the heck are your solutions? I really get annoyed by pleas for change without being realistic and just appealing to emotions.

[CroFlames]

Good for Seravalli. That memo doesn't beat around the bush.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

This is the thing - when something legitimately "real life" happens in the context of sports, the people who report about it are sports journalists, and they are, by and large, woefully under-equipped. These are not the best and the brightest of the journalism profession, and you can argue about what proportion of the journalism profession generally are actually particularly bright. But to the extent that they put themselves in the position of arbiters of morality and justice on top of that, that's an utter farce. Tara Sloane (or whoever) has no basis for lecturing anyone about anything and her opinions about right or wrong or what's good for society or bad for society, or any aspect of it, are of no special value.

Hell, the same goes for Rick Westhead, even, but I'm willing to give him a lot more latitude in that area given that it's his reporting that brought an important story to light. The rest of them, though, especially the Sportsnet people, are just latching on and trying to cast themselves as authorities of some sort while begging for a spotlight to be shone on them personally - I can't stand these people.

[DeluxeMoustache]

^ I thought her comments were genuine

She has a platform and a voice, and if there is a conversation to be had, which there is, she brought up a relevant viewpoint