Gary Bettman: 10 Most Ridiculous Moments from His Tenure as NHL's Head Honcho

Gary Bettman has been the commissioner of the NHL since 1993. In some corners, he has been very unpopular. There is even a web site dedicated to getting him fired. He has been loudly booed several times while presenting the Stanley Cup after the deciding game, including in 2009.

From time to time there have been online petitions to get rid of him.

Why is Bettman so hated by serious hockey fans? Let's take a look at some of the unpopular and even ridiculous things that have happened on his watch.

Putting a Team in Phoenix

Bettman executed a plan to expand the NHL into warm-weather southern cities. As part of this, the Winnipeg team was moved to Phoenix in 1995. By 2009, the team had filed for bankruptcy.

It turns out that the team had less than 5,500 season ticket holders on average in the years 2005 through 2009. D'oh! Whose idea was it to put an ice hockey team in such a hot climate?

Not Allowing the Coyotes To Move to Hamilton

A Canadian businessman, Jim Balsille, offered to buy the Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, Ontario. But Bettman did his best to block this move and did indeed succeed.

So the Coyotes have remained in Phoenix and in limbo ever since.

Putting a Team Back in Atlanta

As part of a multi-team expansion, the NHL put a team in Atlanta again in 1997. There was already a history of the Flames not being able to make it in the NHL, as they were moved to Calgary. However, progress had to be made on Bettman's southern expansion.

If you look at the NHL standings this year, you won't be able to find the Atlanta Thrashers. The team was relocated to Winnipeg and the Jets were reborn.

Chosing Up Sides for the All-Star Game

Of all the bizarre ways for making teams for an All-Star game, the NHL took the cake in 2011. 

They used a fantasy sports-like draft and allowed the team captains to chose up sides days before the game. The fans only got to select six players. The NHL in its wisdom chose the others.

This kind of stunt reminds me of the days of the ABA where they used the multi-colored balls to attract attention.

No-Touch Icing Rules for the 2005-2006 Season

For the 2005-2006 season the NHL established a no-touch icing rule. This meant that the icing was called as soon as the puck crossed the goal line. This took away one of the most exciting plays in the game, the high-speed chase to reach the puck first.

Fortunately, this nonsense was ended after one season.

The 2004-2005 Lost Season

The NHL tried to implement a player salary structure that would give the teams some sense of "cost-certainty." None of the plans to achieve this was accepted by the players' union and the entire season was lost to the lockout.

This was the first time that a professional sports team in North American lost an entire season to a labor dispute.

Hockey Night on Versus

After the lost 2004-2005 season, the NHL signed a TV contract with OLN, which later changed its name to Versus.

Unless you lived near a sports bar with a satellite feed, you probably never saw very many Hockey Night games. This was a terrible way to welcome back fans after the lost season.

Trying To Eliminate Fighting

A good short fight used to be an exciting part of a professional hockey game. It is part of the entertainment for the fans. With the protective equipment that the players wear, it is difficult for anyone to get seriously hurt in a short fight.

But on Bettman's watch the instigator rule was implemented. Certain events now cause an official to immediately step in to break up the fight.

I would like to return to the "good old days," and I imagine a lot of other hockey fans would like to as well. Bring back Dave "The Hammer" Schultz!

Changing the Names of the Divisions

Shortly after Bettman took over, the long-time names of the divisions and conferences were eliminated. That was one unique aspect of hockey that no other sports league had: names from trophies or famous people in the sport.  Patrick, Smythe, Norris, Adams, Prince of Wales and Clarence Campbell were removed and replaced with such insipid names as East, West and so forth.

I'd like to see the old kind of names brought back. Maybe we need to update the names for more recent heroes. I could see divisions with names like Orr, Hull, Gretzky and so forth. And these words come from a Flyer Fan, I will remind you.

FoxTrax Laser Puck

Saving the most ridiculous for last, the FOXTRAX laser puck tops the list.

In attempt to help TV fans follow the puck, an infrared emitter was inserted into the puck. This caused it to appear to glow on TV. The color would change with the speed of the puck. Fortunately this absurd shtick did not last very long. It was introduced in the All-Star game in 1996 and by 1998 was gone forever.

I never could figure out why it is so hard to see a black puck on a white surface.