Gary Bettman probably wanted to discuss anything, except the scandal surrounding the five Canadian junior team players accused of sexual assault in 2018, during his address to the nation Friday afternoon on the sidelines of the All-Star Game in Toronto. As the NHL commissioner knew he was obliged to do, the announcement of an agreement to bring the players back to the Olympic Games, signed a few hours earlier, was timely!
However, not only will the players of the National Hockey League return to the Olympic Games in 2026, in Italy, and in 2030 in France, after having skipped Beijing in 2022, but the NHL will set up in February 2025 a tournament pitting four nations against each other in four Canadian and American cities: Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland, announced the commissioner, flanked by Marty Walsh, the head of the Players’ Association and Luc Tardif, president of the International Hockey Federation.
“We knew how important participating in the Olympic Games was for the players,” commented Gary Bettman. Our collaboration during the pandemic has been so good, we wanted to do it for them. »
PHOTO FRANK GUNN, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Luc Tardif, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Marty Walsh, general director of the Players’ Association, and Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL
The four-nation tournament will serve as a preview for possible World Cups presented every two years, alternating with the Olympic Games, played on North American-sized rinks, as in previous games. “There was no time to organize a World Cup in February 2025,” said the commissioner. Some important players (Pastrnak, Draisaitl) will not be there (because their nations will not be represented), but given the short time, we preferred to set up some form of competition than nothing at all. »
Representatives from the four countries in question, Connor McDavid (Canada), Auston Matthews (United States), Sebastian Aho (Finland) and Elias Pettersson (Sweden) were invited to participate in the second portion of the press conference. They were succinct, but McDavid, the Oilers star, represented the players’ mindset well by saying that it was a dream come true and that hockey must continue to grow in Europe.
The All-Star Game will return in 2026 and serve as a launching pad for the Olympic Games.
The Russian question is obviously at the heart of these new events. They are still excluded from international competitions to this day. The president of the International Federation, Luc Tardif, announced a summit meeting for this purpose next week. “We reassess the situation every year. We obviously hoped for a better geopolitical situation. We have to make a decision for the World Championship, whether the reintegration of Russia is safe, and then we will decide later for the Olympics. »
Gary Bettman’s right-hand man, Bill Daly, recalled that the reintegration of Russia into the Four Nations tournament, among other things, was not a good idea. “We have made it clear from the beginning that we are opposed to aggression against Ukraine, but we support our Russian players. But this is not the right time to include a team from Russia (in the events in question). »
The junior team scandal
The second portion of this press briefing of more than an hour, open to questions from journalists, mainly focused on the scandal of the Canadian junior team in 2018 and on the expansion of the executives. The commissioner appeared annoyed at certain times by journalists’ questions about the sexual assaults of which five Canadian junior players, including four from the NHL, are accused by police authorities in London, Ontario.
“Are we having an intimate conversation, or are we letting others ask questions,” he asked a colleague who was a little too insistent for his liking.
Essentially, Gary Bettman confirmed, after speaking about disgraceful and unacceptable incidents, that there had been a twelve-month external investigation initiated by the NHL in which the alleged victim had not wanted to participate, and that was left now justice will take over. “The players have been released by their respective teams, they are no longer under contract, so free agents, they will clearly not play during the legal process. We will comment in due course. »
Gary Bettman recalled that the five players in question had not reached the NHL at the time of the events, in 2018. “They were not playing in the National League when this happened. We have policies in place and awareness programs for our young players. We want to lead by example and collaborate with all levels of hockey. Over 99.9% players in our league are performing well. These events do not reflect our reality. »
We are not closing the door to Quebec
Interest in getting an NHL team has never been greater, says Gary Bettman. We spoke recently in Houston, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Kansas City. More and more cities want NHL teams. We even received an email from Omaha, Nebraska. But we don’t have a plan at the moment. Nebraska. We are gauging interest. Utah is undoubtedly the most insistent. »
Why consider Atlanta, whose club moved to Winnipeg in 2011, after only ten years of existence? “We have not announced their return, we are listening to them. If you talked to them, they would probably tell you that they would build their amphitheater in another part of the city, like the baseball team, which has been very successful since their stadium change. But I only repeat what I heard…”
And Quebec, whose name Gary Bettman did not mention in his speech a few moments earlier? “If we expand the framework and Quebec comes forward, we will revisit their file. But none of the clubs mentioned have a team at the moment, as far as I know. »
The commissioner also says he will take the word of Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo, confident of being able to deliver a new, standard amphitheater soon.