Report: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman expected to retire ‘in a couple years’
The NHL’s Board of Governors have begun preparations for Commissioner Gary Bettman’s retirement in “a couple years,” Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold confirmed to The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Chris Johnston.
NEWS: The executive committee of the NHL’s Board of Governors has begun planning for Gary Bettman’s retirement in “a couple years.”
The NHL has started the process of finding a successor for the longest-tenured commissioner in North American sports.
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The news first became public Wednesday when Leipold appeared on The Sick Podcast – The Eye Test with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy, and mentioned that Bettman is “going to be retiring.”
In a report published Thursday night, Russo and Johnston said they spoke with Leipold, who elaborated on his comments.
“We have a CEO who’s going to be moving on and any transition would cause us to be concerned,” Leipold said. “So, really, all I was saying is that we have had a commissioner now for 30 years, maybe a little more, and he has been outstanding. I mean, truly, truly, has been an incredible commissioner and has done great things.
“Now we’re going to transition to somebody else, and that should make us all a little concerned that we have to be certain we get the right person. It’s a concern that I have that, ‘How are we going to get anybody as good as Gary?’ The answer is we’re not. So who’s going to be the second best person, and is that going to be good enough?”
Bettman has not publicly announced any plans to retire.
Bettman was elected as league commissioner in February 1993, and was given a mandate by the owners to expand the league into major U.S. markets, including non-traditional regions in the southern U.S.
During his first few seasons, he relocated several franchises from struggling markets, including the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas, the Quebec Nordiques into the Colorado Avalanche, the Hartford Whalers to the Carolina Hurricanes and the Winnipeg Jets to the Phoenix Coyotes. He also helped pave the way for teams like the Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets and Wild.
A total of eight new teams have have joined the NHL under his watch, with the league expanding to 32 teams.
The 72-year-old is the only person to have served as commissioner in NHL history. Before then, the NHL’s top executive was known as the league president, where John Ziegler held the title between 1977 and 1992, then Gil Stein briefly held it for less than a year before the position was dissolved and replaced by a commissioner.