Bill Daly and Gary Bettman have a yearly Stanley Cup presser before the Cup Finals begin. They provided some insight to many things that have some hockey fans minds throughout the course of the season, and some of it is not good. There were updates for many investigations that are still on-going, or just wrapping up. However, they would not give insight into the developments of such. Here are some important tidbits from Bill Daly and Gary Bettman’s presser at the Cup Final before Saturday’s game:
1. The NHL is still trying to make it work logistically in Arizona, however, time is of the essence. If not Salt Lake City has emerged as a City that would look to take on the Coyotes.
2. Joel Quenneville and Stan Bowman have asked for re-instatement in the NHL, and the two will have a meeting following the Cup final.
3. The Montreal Canadiens want to have a meeting with Gary Bettman to discuss Logan Malioux playing in the NHL. This will obviously be conducted at some point during the course of the Summer.
4. Gary Bettman says the players escrow debt won’t be paid off by the end of the season. This means a $1 million salary cap increase next season, with a larger bump expected for 2024-25.
5. Bill Daly said the independent hockey investigation is complete into the 2018 Team Canada World Junior Team, and they will sort it all out in the Summer.
The NHL needs to do some good PR damage control this Summer. Each one of these controversial situations are not easy to deal with/handle, but some can make the argument that they have been mishandled at least on the surface. The Chicago Blackhawks faced no reprimands or draft picks lost due to the Kyle Beach coverup, and are about to land a generational talent in Connor Bedard. In addition, a former coach in Joel Quenneville and former General Manager Stan Bowman might get re-instated into the sport of hockey once again. It just appears the NHL faces a black eye after black eye, but it’s due to lack of action on their behalf.
Action should have taken against the Blackhawks for the coverup of the Kyle Beach situation, plain and simple. They should have been stripped of a first round draft pick for five years, and faced more repercussions. Instead nothing was lost, and now a former coach and former General Manager might get re-instated into their positions. Make it make sense.
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