WHO'S IT GONNA BE?
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and IIHF President Rene Fasel have had numerous discussions about the future of NHL players competing in the Olympics.
on top of the podium. "My belief is that we got a great value out of Turin in Sweden, maybe not in our market places. I believe we got a great value out of Nagano in the Czech Republic, maybe not in our market. This is a global sport. If 20 years from now we draft five Czechs who were inspired by the gold medal team in Nagano then the hockey world benefits." Now looking ahead to Sochi, which
is seven hours ahead of the east coast of North America, you have the same issues with time change. "The time change, if we got to Sochi, will be plus seven hours. So we're not going to have big audiences," he predicted. As NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman is duty-bound to do what's right for the league, its owners, and more importantly, the fans. Yet more games and less rest crammed into the course of the season
definitely impact the competitive balance of the season. "It's not so easy as simply saying let's go
to the Olympics. For us it was a difficult balancing act," Bettman has consistently pointed out. "We shut down our season for anywhere from two weeks to 17 days. There is a momentum of our season that is lost. Teams get to a certain point and it all comes to a screeching halt and we go off to the Olympics."
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