from Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press,

This week, Bettman predicted the salary cap will rise to $71 million for the 2014-15 season and already the rumblings are it could shoot as high as $80 million for the following campaign.

The upshot is there will soon be more and more $10 million per season players dotting NHL rosters. The league minimum will rise at some point so every player in the NHL earns a seven-figure salary.

The man players were so quick to say was ruining the game and robbing their bank accounts has mapped out a strategy where all 30 teams in the NHL can claim to be on the road to financial health.

Lost in the players' rhetoric last winter was the fact many were being paid by franchises that couldn't cover the cheques as stand alone businesses.

Bettman's job was to make sure all league members could operate as sound businesses.

That, and the largesse bestowed upon the game's players, will be his lasting legacy.

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