The Puck Stops Here

Its no secret that I am not a fan of Gary Bettman. The NHL has been driven closer and closer to obscurity during his reign as commissioner. One case study of Gary Bettman is how he has handled the Todd Bertuzzi situation. Instead of issuing a decisive ruling about how long Bertuzzi will be suspended, he has left Bertuzzi drifting for over a year now.

It gets even more ridiculous. Yesterday, Bertuzzi met with Bettman. You can read about it here. The meeting has been over for a little over a day now and Bettman still has not made a ruling. How hard is it to show a little leadership and either announce that Bertuzzi has been reinstated or has been suspended for X amount of time longer? Apparantly it is too hard for Gary Bettman. He must think his meeting with Todd Bertuzzi was like a CBA negotiaiting session with the NHLPA where they can spend hours talking to one another and accomplish nothing and have nothing of substance to report.

Even NHL apologist Bob McKenzie says the ball is in Gary Bettman's court. Bettman lacks the leadership to do anything significant about it. He's had over a day since the end of his meeting.

No wonder the business of the NHL is screwed up with a man like that in charge.