The Puck Stops Here

The Team Canada roster was completed with the announcement that Scott Walker would be the 23rd player on the roster. The story is here. It was believed that this spot was left open in hopes that Todd Bertuzzi could hold it. Bertuzzi had been suspended for his vicious attack on Steve Moore that occurred on March 11, 2004. At the time Bettman suspended him for the remainder of the season announcing that he (Bettman) would review the case in the future before reinstating him. It was assumed that Bertuzzi would be reinstated for this season.

Of course, there was no this season. The lockout occurred, so Bettman never had to make the decision to reinstate Bertuzzi. This decision would possibly give hockey some bad public relations as somebody somewhere who likely has no interest in hockey and the NHL would pull out the tape of Bertuzzi's attack on Moore and be outraged that Bertuzzi is getting reinstated at all. He didn't need to make the somewhat hard decision, so he didn't.

Bettman has delayed making a decision because he can delay. He delayed making it because sombody would be unhappy with its results. He probably will not address Todd Bertuzzi until he HAS to address it. This is becoming unfair to Bertuzzi leaving him in limbo so long. This type of management has lead to problems in the lockout. By delaying decisions when possible, some of the hardine owners are running the show. Had Bettman wanted to change paths and not lose the entire season due to lockout and accept an NHLPA offer, this would have been nearly impossible to him. The hardline owners would not have let him. The NHL has degenerated into a system where the loudest (in this case hardline) owners are running the show. Bettman would have a hard time trying to change the path significantly as is shown in part by his talks with the Leafs I wrote about yesterday.