from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
It never fails to get a chuckle out of me when someone excoriates the body of NHL general managers for not recommending changes in, say, the lottery, or the playoff structure, or the rule governing hits to the head, or the offside rule.
Once and for all. NHL general managers were long ago neutered as a force by Sixth Avenue. The GMs march to the commissioner’s tune in matters significant and insignificant, both. When Gary Bettman or Hockey Ops wants a change, the GMs rubber-stamp it. When the league execs are opposed, so are the GMs.
It has been this way at least since the 2004-05 failed collective bargaining talks, during which the NHL at one point put forward a hard-cap proposal that would have made general managers all but obsolete. For inspired by the MLS model and attorney Bob Batterman, who is among the handful of most influential people in the sport through the last 15 years, Bettman put forth a proposal in which players would sign contracts with the NHL, which would act as a clearinghouse and then assign the athletes to teams as if it were a house league.
more plus a radical plan to fix the draft...
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