On Frozen Blog

As is tradition, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the media late yesterday afternoon in¬† the lead-up to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. The commissioner has used this forum in the past to offer a quasi state of the game assessment, and yesterday was no different. James Mirtle has the entire transcript of the session up on his blog, but we thought we’d highlight some standout aspects and quote in full eyebrow-raising realms that are staple thinking of this commissioner.
The commish, from his vantage, identified highlights of the 2007-08 season:

• The Kings and Ducks opening the regular season in Europe. (To yawns, from our vatange.)
• The Winter Classic, between the Pens and Sabres, from Buffalo. Without committing to a followup game outdoors yesterday, he did say that the league will make a decision “shortly” on Winter Classic II “in terms of venue and the teams involved.” (He, far moreso than we, would like to see a Pens-Flyers matchup outdoors, “in Happy Valley,” and¬†hinted that such a matchup is on the short list of likelys.)¬†
• The U.S. debut of the NHL Network.
• The opening of the NHL Store in New York City, “powered by Reebok,” he quipped. (No mention of Reebok’s powering a high-tailed race away from its uniform system, by all 30 teams, and a return to the good old fabric of the past.
• 21 million in attendance for the past regular season for the first time ever.¬†Revenues exceeded $2.5 billion — also a first.

We particularly enjoyed this opening to the Q&A portion of the session:
Q. At this point in time, often times television ratings come up in this session. I understand they’re positive this year. But how does the League measure kind of the unprecedented access that hockey fans have across the world through all the new technology?
COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN: That’s an interesting and intriguing question. Obviously with respect to ratings we look for continued growth in traditional media. I think all sports, particularly us, tend to get measured too much solely by that metric and not the other things, including access to new media . . . What it means is our fans, and probably the fans of all sports, are seeking to get content of what they want on their own terms. And, therefore, we need to make sure that there’s access to our game the way our fans want it when they want it, how they want it.
On the league’s newly instituted intolerance for flying octopi:
COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: . . .The issue is the swinging of it. And Colin Campbell has had numerous conversations. The problem is the ice. I don’t know what the technical name is for stuff that comes off an octopus. I assume it’s some sort of gunk. When it sticks on the ice it’s a problem, and when it gets on things – it’s actually in one game got on a goaltender as it was being swung. They were going out the Zamboni entrance. It’s really more about making sure that no player hits something on the ice and blows out his knee.
[OFB note: octopi gunk impairing ice quality is an issue for the league, but just regular old rotten ice -- like for a Game 7 of the playoff series -- isn't.]
It’s about the conditions that we’re playing under. So I have no illusions. The octupi will fly, but they just can’t be swung because we’ve got to limit the gunk. Not a very artful way of describing it, but I think you get the point.”
Q. I just noticed that the League kind of missed a chance to end this, by this, I mean the playoffs, they had a shot at ending it before June. And I just wondered if there was any effort being made to squeeze the playoff schedule a bit so it’s a little less interminable.
COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN: I don’t think it’s interminable. And I’m sorry if you do. I like being here. I like going to games. And I feel a void in my life when the season is over. And I don’t even get to go on vacation.
Q. You need a hobby.
COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN: That may be. Squeezing it is an issue. It is the most grueling march to the championship of any sport. We’re very mindful of the wear and tear on our players.
[OFB note: For a specific instance illustrative of the league's concern with wear and tear on its players, look back on Anaheim's opening seven days of the 2007-08 regular season, with five games contested all on the road, two in the United Kingdom and three in fast succession back in North America.]