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Gary Bettman claims there is too much speculation — a lot of it inaccurate — about the number of National Hockey League teams that may or may not to be for sale.
Then when asked directly to clarify exactly which teams are for sale, he answered: “I don’t see any point in running through that list.”
Typically, the commissioner of the National Hockey League wants it both ways.
He will, in his usual accusatory tone, admonish the media for what he deems to be inaccuracies. But when given the opportunity to provide the truth, or what he believes to be the truth, he refuses to clarify, which only leads to the very speculation he finds so disturbing.
It is that kind of song and dance, along with his body language, that has prevented Bettman from being more credible and more popular in Canada, even at a time when he is clearly of the mind to increase the number of Canadian teams in the NHL.
This and that
Columbus holds the fourth pick in the NHL draft and there is all kinds of speculation around the Stanley Cup final that the Blue Jackets are under pressure to make the playoffs and may not have the time or inclination to wait for yet another player to develop. Don’t be surprised if Brian Burke makes an attempt to deal Tomas Kaberle and more to Columbus to try and get an early pick ... I guess size matters: The Maple Leafs don’t lead the NHL in any category other than size of front office ... One outdoor NHL game is perfect on New Year’s Day. Two is too many, unless it supplants the horrible NHL all-star game ... The story going around about Devils players receiving text messages on the afternoon of playoff games informing them they are not dressing that night was reason enough to fire Jacques Lemaire, who instead fired himself as coach ... Strange as it sounds, and money aside, a Hedo Turkoglu for Vince Carter trade actually makes some sense on some levels for both teams ... I know it’s beating a dead horse but an NHL with two teams in Toronto is a stronger business than an NHL without ... What you see in Doc Rivers and Stan van Gundy and you don’t see in Jay Triano: Presence. How teams respond to their coach. How officials respond. It’s something tangible: You either have it or you don’t.
Hear and there
The first clue in determining what kind of general manager Steve Yzerman will be will come from his initial hirings. If he hires buddies, he’s doomed to fail. If he surrounds himself with yes men, same thing. Yzerman comes from a great organization: Building one is whole other thing ... Two of the people most responsible for accumulating the talent on the Blackhawks roster are no longer with the club. Dale Tallon is now general manager of the Florida Panthers. His former lieutenant, Rick Dudley, is now general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers ... Sunday information you can’t live without: Bears coach Lovie Smith is picking the Blackhawks in four, if not sooner ... A small Jonathan Toews story. His mother recently called RDS, the French all-sports television station, to tell them not to pronounce his name Jonathan. Growing up French, she told them to pronounce it Jon-a-tin ... Hedo says, “I lost my enthusiasm for this city.” So what came first? Him losing his enthusiasm for us. Or us losing it for him ... People who speak but don’t tell the truth: 1. Hedo; 2. Scott Bowman; 3. Hedo.
Scene and heard
Toronto has a winning team. The Blue Jays have the fourth best record in the American League. Isn’t it time to start showing up at games? ... Not even half a year in and Sidney Crosby, Steve Nash, Justin Morneau, Jonathan Toews and Alex Bilodeau lead the list of candidates for Canada’s athlete of the year ... Two bets no one would have made: 1. Michael Leighton in the Stanley Cup final; 2. Jose Bautista leading all of baseball in home runs ... It’s just dumb sexism that promotes Danica Patrick as some kind of racing hottie. She can race, but let’s be honest: Compared to Paul Tracy, she may be hot. Compared to hot, she’s just a woman driving a car ... If you’re Jim Barker, and you’re bringing five quarterbacks — Cleo Lemon, Gibran Hamdan, Ken Dorsey, Dalton Bell and Danny Brannagan — into a short training camp with just two exhibition games, doesn’t it means you’re guessing one of them can play, but you’re not certain any of them really can ... Lou Lamoriello has a history of plucking coaches from the Montreal Canadiens which means Kirk Muller has to be on the short list of candidates to coach the Devils ... A bon voyage to the retiring Rod Phillips and thanks for all those Edmonton Oilers memories.
And another thing
Memo to Ron Wilson: Best way to fix the Leafs penalty killing? Try hiring Blair Betts of the Philly Flyers. The guy has been killing penalties regularly for five seasons and his teams have never been under 83 percent. The Leafs were last in the NHL at 74.6 percent inefficiency ... The NBA is nothing but a giant rumour, but you get the impression that Phil Jackson, the hugely successful Lakers coach, enjoys being in the middle of one or more ... Looking back, Cliff Fletcher doesn’t get enough credit for the coaching depth he had while running the Leafs. At one time, Fletcher had Pat Burns coaching in Toronto, Marc Crawford running the AHL team in St. John’s with Joel Quenneville as his playing assistant ... Year in year out, it’s hard to be as horrible as the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have already been shut out eight times in the first two months of the major-league season ... Media feuds that don’t involve me: columnist Michael Wilbon vs. coach Stan van Gundy; Fox baseball guru Ken Rosenthal vs. manager Lou Piniella ... Perception is everything: Jason Heyward, with nine home runs and 35 RBI is having an amazing rookie season in Atlanta. Albert Pujols, with nine home runs and 34 RBI, is having a horrible season in St. Louis. Go figure ... Happy Birthday to Gale Sayers (67), Rasho Nesterovic (34), Jake “The Snake” Roberts (55), Manny Ramirez (38), Gilles Villemure (70) ... And hey, whatever became of Tom Bladon?