Alas, Gary Bettman does belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame

Gary Bettman is the sitting commissioner of the National Hockey League. Gary Bettman, as of this weekend, is also a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee. And Gary Bettman will continue to serve as NHL commish for the foreseeable future and through the next crucial collective bargaining agreement checkpoint in 2020.

This is all a little strange, isn’t it?

The group being enshrined alongside Bettman — Martin Brodeur, Martin St. Louis, Jayna Hefford, Willie O’Ree and Alexander Yakushev — are absolutely dripping with HOF credentials. One Marty is arguably the greatest goaltender to ever strap on a pair of pillows in the NHL, while the other Marty has won almost every major team and individual award, and boasts an underdog story like none other.

Hefford is one of the greatest Olympians Canada has ever produced — and maybe the greatest pure scorer not named Wickenheiser to wear the Red and White. Yakushev, meanwhile, was an international standout with the dominating Soviet teams of the 70’s an 80’s.

Willie O’Ree, of course, was the first black player to suit up in the NHL. He broke hockey’s colour barrier when he dressed for the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens in January of 1958.

But Bettman, he’s no trailblazer.

From his undersized stature, an all-world talent he didn’t make. And he never dawned the pads, or won four straight Olympic gold medals with Team Canada, or led a hockey revolution in Russia. He passes the Stanley Cup — he doesn’t lift it over his head.

What he is is the Wayne Gretzky of the boardroom, and for overseeing the league’s massive growth in revenues and popularity over the past half-century, he has indeed earned himself a spot in the Hall.

Trust me, that was probably as hard for me to type as it was for you to read, but the facts are the facts, and facts don’t care how loud or often Bettman gets booed into oblivion. This isn’t a contest of likeability or charisma, this is all about revenues and growth — two things the commissioner has made explode in the positive direction during his tenure.

These are among Bettman’s most important executive contributions to the sport:

• The first and only person to hold the position of “commissioner” in NHL history

• His focus on expansion in the United States grew the league from 24 to 31 teams (and soon to be 32)

• Responsible for several key re-locations which landed franchises in Dallas, Denver, Raleigh, Phoenix and back to Winnipeg

• Expanded the league’s global footprint immensely, especially over the past decade, overseeing the implementation of regular season and exhibition games in Austria, China, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Northern Ireland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland

• Expanded the marketing machines that have been outdoor games, with the introduction of regular Heritage Classic, Winter Classic and Stadium Series contests

• Concentrated heavily on increasing broadcast revenues, which skyrocketed during his tenure

• Oversaw rapid growth of league revenues, which have reportedly exploded ten-fold from around $400 million when he took over in 1993 to more than $4.4 billion today

• Average player salaries also blew up under Bettman’s watch, ballooning from around 500K per season to nearly $2.5 million in 2014

Sure, the argument could be made that the insane growth the league has seen would’ve happened regardless who was at the helm, but the fact is that Bettman, not “anyone,” was and is still in charge. He deserves a lot of the credit for executing the moves that have put the NHL in the lucrative position it’s in today.

Of course, there’s no escaping the blemishes on his resume, either.

No hockey fan could forget the three lockouts that halted league play in 1994-95, 2004-05 and 2012-13. Two of the labour disruptions resulted in the loss of more than a third of the season, while the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 campaign is arguably the biggest black mark on Bettman’s tenure.

Another very important and inescapable scuff on the commissioner is his unwillingness and failure to recognize the link between hockey, head trauma and CTE.

Bettman could have been the guy to take a stand against brain injuries while taking the major steps to take care of past players who are suffering today. Instead, he’s stuck to his guns and firmly denied everything — shady, for sure — and he’ll have to deal with that skid-mark on his legacy forever.

But this isn’t the Morals Hall Of Fame — it’s the hockey one. And arguably no one has done more for the growth of the sport and the NHL than Bettman — his new Hall of Fame peers included.

As hard as that may be to accept.

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