73
CALGARY — Among the various hats he wears as NHL commissioner — peacemaker, labor negotiator, occasionally judge and jury — Gary Bettman is above all a salesman. He was hired more than 15 years ago to grow the business and as the CEO of any major corporation will tell you, there is little percentage in criticizing the product that you're selling, even under the most dire circumstances.
So for Bettman to come out and actually take a stand on Sean Avery's antics during Sunday's New York Rangers-New Jersey Devils' playoff game is telling and wholly noteworthy.
For the record, the Rangers put Avery in front of goaltender Martin Brodeur during a five-on-three power play in yesterday afternoon's game. Avery, channeling his inner pest, turned to face Brodeur. Instead of trying to get in position to score, Avery spent most of his energy, waving his stick and arms in front of the Devils' goaltender, distracting him from the task at hand.
Brodeur reacted in expected fashion, alternatively trying to follow the puck and swat Avery away like a fly. Lots of skaters make their living in front of the net on the power play — think the Detroit Red Wings' Tomas Holmstrom or the Colorado Avalanche's Ryan Smyth — but no one has quite taken the art of screening to the level that Avery did in Sunday's game.
So Bettman, who was in town yesterday for the Calgary Flames-San Jose Sharks' game, addressed the issue between periods and said the league would immediately take action to prevent something similar from happening in the future.
Bettman said he discussed the matter with Colin Campbell, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations, on Sunday afternoon already. Their joint verdict: "It's something that we're going to address, probably in the realm of either goaltender interference, or unsportsmanlike conduct. We'll put the clubs on notice before we make that interpretation. But the ingenuity and creativity of things we've never seen before never ceases to amaze us. But we'll deal with it."
Bettman's tone said as much as his actual words — he was clearly unhappy with Avery's antics, even after acknowledging his ingenuity and creativity, because of the black mark they cast on what has been another exciting first round.
Television replays showed Avery's teammate, Chris Drury, skating into the frame, while he was doing his thing, advising him, "stick down" — presumably fearing that Avery would take a penalty himself and thus negate the advantage.
For his part, the veteran Brodeur, who has been in the league since 1991 and has 167 playoff appearances on his resume, told the New York Post afterwards: "I've never seen anything like that, before; ever. The referees said after the goal that they'd call a penalty next time.
"Whatever . . . I don't know . . . it is what it is."
However, the Post also quoted Brendan Shanahan, Avery's teammate in both Detroit and now New York, wondering what rule had been violated.
"Show me the rule book," Shanahan said. "What's the rule? If they're going to change a rule in mid-season, they need a 30-0 vote of the Board of Governors."
Shanahan, a member of the NHL's competition committee, is firmly conversant with the rule book. However, he also knows that it is both fluid and situational — and beyond the actual rule book, there is also an NHL officiating casebook, which offers interpretations of scenarios that are not always spelled out by the official rule book. So there is some flexibility in terms of issuing a directive to teams to cease and desist from certain behaviour — and it is not exactly unprecedented either. They are sent out periodically, throughout the season, if the league believes something is amiss.
The fear as it relates to Avery's actions is that teams might mimic his behaviour, if the matter goes unnoticed. After all, these are the playoffs and there is so much at stake that teams routinely test the limits and patience of the referees and their employers. Bettman, by issuing out a clear and uncomplicated response, suggests that he knows how badly those sorts of clownish actions could reflect upon the league — and is prepared to stop it before it ever gets a chance to catch on and get a foothold in the game. And for that, you can hardly blame him.
