NHL 2021 Review | Another very busy year for Gary Bettman

Gary Bettman noted that he did not have time to catch his breath after the Stanley Cup final in the NHL bubble in Edmonton in September 2020.

Bettman and his team had to develop plans to organize the presentation of the most normal campaign possible despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its constraints, including border restrictions.

In this regard, Bettman can say mission accomplished, while the 2021 season unfolded without major pitfalls.

But the challenge is not over. The pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the continent, and a new wave to hit the NHL forced players to cancel their participation in the Beijing Olympics in February 2022.

Forced to run the league in a time of pandemic, Bettman also had to curb the damage surrounding one of the biggest scandals in NHL history – the Brad Aldrich affair with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Here is a retrospective of the year 2021 through the NHL.

A transformed league

In order to be able to present a season, the NHL had to reinvent itself in 2021. Under border restrictions and in order to limit travel across the continent, the NHL has changed its four sections. The seven Canadian teams made up the new northern section.

If the idea initially delighted fans, the fact that the teams faced each other nine or 10 times in a campaign of 56 games quickly gave way to monotony.

Despite a few COVID-19 outbreaks that forced the season to end just over a week later than expected, the NHL has succeeded in its mission to successfully present a season and then a playoff.

In the end, the Tampa Bay Lightning successfully defended their Stanley Cup title acquired in 2020.

A new invading wave

The offseason was short, after the Lightning lifted the precious trophy on July 7.

However, the NHL was able to return to its old sections, with one exception. The Arizona Coyotes have been moved to the Mid Section to make room for the Seattle Kraken, 32^e NHL team, in the Pacific section.

With all players on the Tour properly vaccinated except one, Tyler Bertuzzi of the Detroit Red Wings, the NHL was hoping to avoid seeing the schedule disrupted in 2021-22. That was not the case.

Outbreaks in November forced the league to postpone three games for the Ottawa Senators and two for the New York Islanders. The situation then escalated rapidly in December, especially when the Omicron variant began to spread among teams.

The Calgary Flames notably found themselves with 19 players on the sidelines due to COVID-19 protocol and teams had to play with rosters of less than 18 players. The number of games postponed hit their twenties on December 17, before dropping to 50 less than a week later.

The Christmas break finally began on December 22, two days ahead of schedule. All games involving a Canadian team and an American team have notably been postponed.

Due to all these postponed games, the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association had no choice but to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics, scheduled for February 4-20, 2022. It was about the only possible way to resume postponed matches without postponing the end of the campaign until May.

The players were already less and less interested in going to Beijing. First there was the risk of catching COVID-19 while traveling or during the tournament. But what made players particularly pause for thought was the quarantine which could be anywhere from three to five weeks if a player was infected while in China.

It remains to be seen whether the NHL has fought its last fight with COVID-19 or not as the level of uncertainty remains high in anticipation of the resumption of activities after Christmas.

Steps forward and backward

After being splashed by a scandal linked to racism in 2019, then having been slow to follow in the footsteps of other North American leagues with the “Black Lives Matter” movement in 2020, the NHL welcomed in 2021 its first openly homosexual hope. , forward Luke Prokop, who belongs to the Nashville Predators.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have promoted former Canadian female hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser to senior director of player development and her former teammate Danielle Goyette has been named director of player development.

The Seattle Kraken meanwhile made their debut with several women in key positions – including Cammi Granato as professional recruiter and Alexandra Mandrycky as director of hockey research and strategy.

However, those positives have lingered in the background due to the 2010 action scandal involving former Chicago Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich and prospect Kyle Beach.

In May 2021, two former Blackhawks players accused Aldrich of sexual assault during the 2009-10 season. One of the two players, who turned out to be Beach, eventually sued the Blackhawks for failing to do the necessary follow-up following the incidents.

An independent investigation found that Blackhawks leadership met in May 2010 to discuss the situation. They had decided to bring up the subject after the playoffs, but the Blackhawks eventually won the Stanley Cup and never spoke about the situation again.

In the aftermath of the scandal, Blackhawks general manager and president of hockey operations Stan Bowman resigned on October 26, as did vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac. The NHL fined the Blackhawks US $ 2 million. Head coach Joel Quenneville, now at the helm of the Florida Panthers, also resigned after a meeting after Gary Bettman.

Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz had Aldrich’s name removed from the Stanley Cup.

The case closed on Dec. 15 with an out-of-court settlement between Beach and the Blackhawks. The aftermath could hurt the image of the NHL for quite a while, even as it continues to make diversity and inclusion one of its workhorses.