Chirping from the Bench

I've got a little bit of a bone to pick with NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman (aka - The Count from Sesame Street). I'm not too sure how many of you have been following the ongoing war of words between Anaheim Ducks GM Bryan Burke and his counterpart in Edmonton Kevin Lowe, but why is Gary Bettman bothering to get involved? This whole thing started about a year ago when Kevin Lowe signed Anaheim power forward Dustin Penner to a restricted free agent offer sheet(something he had every right to do under the terms of the CBA). Needless to say Burke was a little peeved at this offer (but let's be realistic, did Burke really expect to be able to sign Getzlaf, Perry and Penner within a year of each other?) and as he is wont to do, spouted off in the media about it. Burke reacted to the offer by calling Lowe a "GM on the ropes who is trying to save his job" and telling everyone that would listen that he was "throwing a grenade at the other 29 teams". Lowe and Burke exchanged shots in the media for about a week, everyone was entertained, the story went away and all was well with the world again. This is what happens in hockey. Players chirp at each other on the ice all the time so why can't the GMs, who are usually ex-players, do the same?

Flash forward one year to last week when Burke realized he wasn't getting enough attention down in Anaheim and decided to spout off again, blaming Lowe for everything from rising player salaries to the increase in fuel prices. Again, Lowe shot back, giving us one of the best one liners since Patrick Roy's "I couldn't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) was saying because I had my two Stanley Cup rings in my ears". Lowe said, "He won a Stanley Cup? Great. I've won six Stanley Cups, you want to count rings?". A friendly little back and forth in the media right? No one get's hurt and everyone is entertained for a few days. Wrong! In steps Gary Bettman like the principal at your elementary school breaking up a fight that everyone wants to see and telling everyone that these disparaging comments were "bad for the business" and would no longer be tolerated. Here's why I think he's wrong:

1. It's the offseason, keep your game relevent

Other than the Draft and the first day of free agency, hockey completely leaves the public consiousness during the off-season (even more so in the US, where it's not even on the public consiousness to begin with). What's wrong with letting the GMs battle it out in the media? It gives me something to read about while at work (so that I don't have to work). It gives talking heads Bob McKenzie, Pierre McGuire and Nick Kypreos something to write about and most importantly it keeps you in the public eye. I think guys like Burke are great for the game.

2. I want to know what these guys really think

A couple of days ago the St. Louis Blues tendered an offer sheet to newly acquired Canucks forward Steve Bernier. Normally I wouldn't really care, but it was clear to everyone that this was in direct retaliation to the Canucks tendering an offer sheet to David Backes the week before. St. Louis knew the Canucks would match (which they did) since they had just acquired Bernier for two draft picks and would only recieve one as compensation. Everyone eagerly awaited Canucks GM Mike Gillis' response and thanks to Gary Bettman we got this: "It is what it is" and "we have a lot of respect for the management team of John Davidson and Larry Pleau". Bull Shit! I'm sure deep down inside Gillis was just steaming at Davidson for making this offer sheet. These two have been going at it all offseason - Vancouver tenders an offer sheet to their player, they do the same to Vancouver, Vancouver signs a piece of garbage they don't want (Ryan Johnson) St. Louis responds by doing the same (Mike Weaver). I want to know what Gillis really thinks. In fact, I want to this a step further and see Gillis and Davidson go bucket's off at center ice during the intermission of the first Canucks-Blues game this year. My money is on ex tough guy Gillis getting the decision over ex-goalie Davidson.

3. If you actually listen to him, Burke makes a point

Sure, he didn't need to drag Kevin Lowe into things this off season but a lot of what Burke says makes sense. The minimum salary cap is bad for the game! During the last CBA negotiations the NHL insisted on having a salary cap to curb rising player costs. The players agreed to the cap, but under one provision: a salary minimum that was based on owner revenues. I don't think anyone at the NHL really thought this one through, but here's what happened. THe Canadian dollar skyrocketed in relation to the US dollar. THe NHL is hugely popular in Canada. NHL revenues rose, the salary cap and minimum rose right along with it and we now have escalating salaries. Great for the teams that can afford it (4 of the top 6 money earning teams in the NHL are in Canada), not so good for those that can't (like Burke's down in Anaheim). Teams are forced to spend up to the minimum so they have no choice but to throw ridiculous amounts of money at useless players to get there. I mean come on Columbus, is Mike Commodore really worth $18.75 million over 5 years to be your number 5 defenceman or do you really just have more money to spend than you actually know what to do with.

Let em talk Bettman, any publicity is good publicity for a league that Tiger Woods says no one watches anymore.

Robert