from Stu Hackel of the Red Light,

With his expression of sorrow for the lockout he engineered, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hopes to turn the page and put the focus of the fans, players, sponsors and media back on the ice where, he said, the attention belongs.

What he stopped short of expressing was a pledge that he would commit to working with the NHLPA to find a way of preventing anything like what we just went through from happening again.

Addressing the players, the league’s business partners, and the fans, he said, “I know that an explanation or an apology will not erase the hard feelings that have built up over the past few months, but I owe you apology, nevertheless.” It was a nice sentiment, but if he really wanted to erase the hard feelings, the best thing he could have done was make some sort of statement that this third lockout was wrong for the sport, that it was too damaging and the league was committed to finding a better way of fixing problems in its labor relations.

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