For the NHL in 2009 it was a classic case of whether we see the glass as half full or half empty.  The optimists would remind everyone how the year started out so well with the most-succesful-yet Winter Classic, played on New Year’s Day in Chicago, a game that has become almost as much a staple for the American sports viewer as the big college bowl games.  Or they might point to the terrific playoffs culminating in Pittsburgh’s exciting victory led by their young guns Crosby, Malkin and Stahl.  Or maybe it was the emergence of Washington’s Alex Ovechkin as not only the leagues most exciting player but as a globally marketable icon. TV ratings and attendance were also up in most markets in the league.  The “nay-sayers” though, would only have to point to the debacle that was played out this summer in Phoenix to remind everyone how fragile the league’s successes are and this mess falls right into the lap of commissioner Gary Bettman. Now, most of us  are aware of a mother’s love and loyalty to her child. No matter how bad or rebellious a child can be a mother will always defend, protect, and continually bail out her child.

Gary Bettman, in an illustrative way, is mom of the year! His children are all of the U.S. market NHL teams and in his eyes they can do no wrong. They can have poor attendance and he will defend them by recording the attendance figures by what was sold not who was actually at the game . They can lose millions and he will bail them out with the other teams money (their siblings) and on top of all this he still is looking to adopt more needy U.S cities to put a hockey team in. His latest “child” to get into trouble, the Phoenix Coyotes, have no reason to remain in that city. The team makes no money, has poor attendance and can’t even make a success of it with the greatest player to ever play the game as their coach and architect. The poor owner who has lost millions and tried to make it work had an opportunity to gain back some of his loses when a rich Canadian buyer, Jim Balsillie, agreed to buy the team on the understanding that he would move it to Canada, a place where fans love the game, provide the league with home grown talent (can’t see kids playing hockey in Arizona) and where the economy has NOT been compared to the Titanic. Yet to mother Bettman, this was like forcing him to give up his child to adoption, which even a real mother would do if she saw her child suffering from malnutrition.  Gary  Bettman year in and year out ( especially this past year ) continues to ignore just how unstable the NHL has become and how much brighter the future could be if he wasn’t so territorial. This is not to say that the NHL should abandon the game below the 48th Parallel and put teams in remote Canadian outposts like Yellowknife and Thunder Bay.  There are many great hockey markets in the US that have traditionally supported the game.  Just look at last year’s aforementioned Cup final as the Pengiuins from Pittsburgh won it in game 7 over Detroit, two cities that have consistently supported hockey and have great fan bases. When Pittsburgh was in trouble, Bettman rightfully stepped in to provide help for awhile because the game had a history of success in southwestern Pennsylvania, but unless Bettman can find 12 more Crosbys then the same turn around will not happen in Phoneix, Tampa, Miami, Columbus and the many other U.S. NHL cities losing money. Gary also cannot hide all the other teams problems behind one exciting 7 game series as two weeks doesn’t make up for 6 months of half empty seats in non- traditional hockey markets where bowling is more popular that hockey.

Mr. Bettman please do us hockey fans a favor next year, Be a Man, not a mommy and stop babying these teams. Move them to Canadian markets that desperately want the game, where they will fill the seats, they have the money and they maintain the foundation of the sport. For those of you that need an example of the difference between a traditional hockey market and a Sun-belt pretender, check out the World Junior Hockey Championships going on right now in Saskatoon.  The population of Saskatoon is just over 200,000 or about 5% the size of the Phoenix market and yet the arena will be full and rocking for every significant game there.  A tournament mind you involving 18 year old kids!  

The situation in Phoenix is playing out as expected.  By rejecting Balsillie as a prospective owner, the League has doomed the franchise to continue to lose millions of dollars per year by staying in the Phoenix area.  The negative publicity and unseemly haggling has cost the team whatever limited support they had in the region.  All this despite the team having it’s most succesful year in a decade as they find themselves in the hunt for the division lead and are sure to make the playoffs.  They deserve more than to be the “red-haired step-child” of the Phoenix sports scene, begging for crumbs from one of the wealthiest markets in the country.  They deserve to be somewhere that the fans support and appreciate their efforts and if Mr. Bettman wakes up from his dream, he’ll realize that place is in the Great White North.