Credit where it's due: Gary Bettman's NHL.

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Author: Unknown

Last week, as the Edmonton Oilers were taking control of their playoff series against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's name was flashed on the scoreboard at Rexall Place. Boos rained from the stands. Bettman gets the same reception in every rink he visits. A couple of weeks from now, when he presents the Stanley Cup to this year's champion, chances are he'll be jeered again. But it's time for hockey fans, especially Canadian hockey fans, to reconsider their loathing of hockey's chief executive. In small cities like Edmonton, fans should be thanking him for ensuring the survival of their beloved teams.

Ever since he started with the league in 1993, Canadians have viewed Bettman with a suspicion bordering on hostility. He was derided for not understanding the game, for being too concerned with expanding the league beyond its traditional northern fan base. When the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets transferred to homes south of the border, Bettman was painted as a carpetbagger presiding over the theft of Canada's national game. And when Bettman convinced NHL owners to lock out the players in a labour dispute that ultimately washed out the 2004-05 hockey season, he was widely vilified again. A website called garybettmansucks.com sprung up, selling merchandise with the commissioner in a dunce cap, and BusinessWeek magazine named him one of the worst corporate managers of 2004.

Now that the NHL's labour dispute is over, all that criticism and animosity seems unjustifiable: the numbers paint a picture of a turnaround any CEO could take pride in.

The year before the lockout, the NHL reported that 19 of the league's 30 teams were losing money, for a total of US$342 million in the 2002-03 season alone. This season, 22 teams are on track to break even or turn a profit. That astonishing financial resurgence is a direct result of Bettman's resolve to get a salary cap tied to league revenues. It was that achievement, more than anything else, that put small-market teams like Edmonton on firm financial ground for the first time in more than a decade. Without it, the Oilers would almost certainly be facing financial oblivion, possibly along with the Ottawa Senators and more than a dozen other franchises.

Instead, the league has ushered in a new era in which small-market teams can compete on a level field with major hubs like New York, Philadelphia and Toronto. Of the final four contenders for the Cup -- Edmonton, Buffalo, Carolina and Anaheim -- not one made the playoffs last season, and none can count on major corporate support to bolster the bottom line.

There are still challenges. Even with player salaries capped at 54 per cent of league revenues, more than a quarter of teams will lose money this year. In some cities, fan interest has been slow to recover from the lockout. The league still lacks a strong U.S. television contract, and American audience ratings have been dismal. But the reforms put in place through Bettman's leadership have not only improved the excitement of the game, they have renewed the optimism of hockey lovers everywhere. For that alone, he deserves to take some long-overdue credit, and to hear the boos replaced with cheers.

PHOTO (COLOR): GARY BETTMAN is an easy target for abuse, but he has turned around a league in trouble