32 Thoughts: Bettman talks salary cap, expansion at Board of Governors

The biggest thing that came out of Wednesday’s Board of Governors meeting in New York City is that the NHL is looking at an $87-million to $88-million cap figure in 2024-25. Commissioner Gary Bettman stressed it is a "very preliminary" figure — he used that phrase twice, the second time with an extra "very" or two — but it is on track with what was projected two summers ago.

That’s good news because it eradicates the salary-cap cement ceiling. Bettman will point out that players could have paid back the COVID-19-era escrow sooner and moved the line, which is true, but, optically, it never looks good when your salaries stagnate. Gives the impression you aren’t growing, even though revenues might be.

The annual pre-season BoG get-together generally doesn’t make much news. What’s obvious, however, is that some degree of expansion isn’t impossible over the next few years. I’ll bet your next six mortgage payments that Salt Lake City will get a team (whether it's the Coyotes moving or new blood) and there are shoppers from Atlanta to Houston to Quebec City.

"We're not in a mode where I'm saying, 'OK, if you're interested in expansion, submit your applications,'" Bettman said. "We’re not there. We're just getting expressions of interest. And as you all know, I take meetings all the time on a variety of subjects, and if somebody wants to talk to us, we talk to them.

"If somebody came in and said, 'OK, we have a building, this is our market, this is our ownership group, we’d really like to go.' Then we'll take a look at it and decide whether we're inclined to expand at this point in time."

Has the commissioner set an expansion fee? It was $500 million for Vegas and $650 million for Seattle.

"A lot," he replied, pointing out Ottawa just sold for $950 million.

He continued to pooh-pooh the idea of expanded playoffs, much to my disappointment. (Needs to happen.) How about the 2025 World Cup?

“We're continuing to work on it with the players’ association. You know the world complexities,” Bettman said, referring to the fact that the European countries, in particular, do not want Russia invited. “It is still an issue, but we're focused on wanting to do something, hopefully we will. And we're still working (on) the Olympics. I know the players want to go. We want to go, but the IIHF and the IOC have to make that a possibility and a reality.”

Finally, there is always a question about the investigation into the 2018 World Junior team. As usual, everyone’s very careful discussing it publicly.

“The process continues,” he answered. “When I have something to say, I'll say it, but nothing more to comment.”

32 THOUGHTS

1. Four hours after the meeting, sports business reporter Daniel Kaplan tweeted the news that embattled Bally Sports is terminating its local television contract with the Arizona Coyotes. Kaplan wrote, “the Coyotes have consented to this,” adding the team and the NHL “have transition plans in place to facilitate the continued distribution of Coyotes games to fans.”

This is the latest development in Bally’s financial meltdown, and how it affects regional rights in different sports across the United States. Last July, Major League Baseball took over production and distribution for the Arizona Diamondbacks — weeks after it did the same for the San Diego Padres. The Pittsburgh Penguins bought and rebranded the sports network that televised their games, while the Vegas Golden Knights launched their own direct-to-consumer streaming platform. Details are sketchy as I publish, but the initial response is confidence the Coyotes can be made whole and that their games will be available to their fans. We will see the exact details. Their television contract is believed to be around $14 million per year.

2. New Jersey’s David Blitzer is the newest member of the NHL’s executive committee, replacing the late Rocky Wirtz. He joins chairman Jeremy Jacobs (Boston); Mark Chipman (Winnipeg); Murray Edwards (Calgary); Craig Leipold (Minnesota); Ted Leonsis (Washington); Geoff Molson (Montreal); Henry Samueli (Anaheim); Larry Tanenbaum (Toronto); and Jeff Vinik (Tampa Bay).

3. Contract negotiations are dicey to discuss at this time of year because there’s an urgency to get things done before puck-drop. So it’s even more of a guessing game. At the risk of being even more wrong than usual, some ideas on where things stand.

First, Devon Toews. In a perfect world, this would happen. The Avalanche know how good he is, and he knows how good Denver is for him. What I completely understand from Toews is this is his biggest chance for an upper-deck Gabriel Moreno-style contract home run. He’s definitely willing to bend, but there’s a limit. The Avalanche are concerned about the aging curve, and the belief is they prefer a five-year term. Maybe they buckle a bit, but not much further. So, you see the conundrum. What is Toews’ number on an eight-year term — $56 million to $64 million? How do you get anywhere close to that on a five-year term?

4. Just like Trevor Zegras, it sounds like there’s been some movement between Anaheim and Jamie Drysdale. The biggest hurdle here surrounds the torn labrum Drysdale suffered in 2022-23. It limited him to eight games, two below the cutline for an “accumulated season” toward salary arbitration. As a result, the young defender is two years away from eligibility for that process, not one. The Ducks are wielding that hammer, hard.

One Ducks fan asked why Drysdale doesn’t sign a one-year, prove-it deal at a lower salary. I’m not convinced that option is open to him. Team and agent aren’t publicly talking, but it’s believed the Ducks want term. Anaheim was never under investigation for how it handled Drysdale’s return, but I did hear there was some grumbling about him not being able to play at the end of the season.

Here’s GM Pat Verbeek: “The timeline (always was) six months. From the doctors’ standpoint, they always say four-to-six, but this injury that Jamie had was never going to be less than six months for him to be able to return to the ice. I had this conversation with not only our doctors, but with Jamie a couple weeks before training camp. We actually cleared this up a long time ago. That’s been our discussions with Jamie (and) with our doctors. It’s never been less than six months. You can talk to anybody in the medical field. This injury, it’s an impact sport, it’s never less than six months.”

5. Recognizing that Drysdale hasn’t spoken yet, I have some clarity on the issue. If you go back and look at the stories from when he was injured, they reported four-to-six months. Of course, a finely tuned athlete is going to target four. It obviously didn’t occur for the reasons Verbeek mentioned. That said, what I do think has happened here is that players — particularly young ones — are noticing the consequences of Drysdale missing those two games. It’s definitely come up in conversation between them that Anaheim’s negotiating position improved through Drysdale’s absence.

6. Not surprisingly, players and agents don’t like that being used as leverage, while those who negotiate contracts for clubs say that it's part of the business and agents/players “don’t give us a break when they have the hammer.” Shane Pinto is in a similar situation with Ottawa, with neither offer-sheet nor arbitration rights.

This was a really interesting summer in the NBA when it came to trade requests. Portland sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee, even though his agent made it clear Lillard wouldn’t go anywhere but Miami. Philadelphia is not backing down from James Harden’s latest work-to-rule. The Ringer’s Howard Beck reported there have been 14 “superstar” trade demands in the past five years, including three from Harden. It’s clear NBA executives are battling to regain some measure of control, and leagues always watch what each other is up to.

7. On Pinto: one of the conspiracy theories floating around Wednesday was that if Jacob Bernard-Docker was claimed, the team that took him would also be part of a bigger deal opening space for the Senators to clear cap room. Clearly, that theory was a loser. In addition to Philadelphia, I think Ottawa has talked with San Jose about the possibility of opening cap space. 

8. There is only one way to proceed with Senators centre Josh Norris. This is an eight-year commitment to a very important player. Set him up for success, not failure. If he can’t start the season, so be it. Short-term thinking leads to long-term pain. One man’s injury is another man’s opportunity. Step on up, Ridly Greig. 

9. One night in Calgary has convinced me of one thing: the mood among the Flames is much better than last season. Very, very different vibe — in a good way. Mikael Backlund’s extension is a great sign, and others are positively reconsidering their futures. But I don’t get the sense anything is close, yet. And it’s possible Elias Lindholm’s number is going to be higher than I initially thought — in the $9-million range. 

10. Backlund’s deal has an interesting wrinkle. There’s the typical no-move, no-trade protection — until Jan. 1, 2026. Then, the no-move stays to protect against waivers, but the no-trade drops to 15 teams. 

11. Minnesota GM Bill Guerin wouldn’t say much at the BoG meeting, but indicated he continues to work on a Ryan Hartman extension. The initial rumour going around was two years at a nice raise from the current $1.7 million, but it might end up being a slightly longer term.

12. Like many of you, I was surprised the likes of Bernard-Docker and Ty Smith were not claimed on waivers. One executive made a strong point: that teams would have known during the summer these players were on the bubble and/or available. Unless something drastically changed during training camp, you’re not going to change your thought process on these players. A few had a similar opinion on Smith. It can’t be easy for him, going from the all-rookie team in 2021 to 43 points in his first two seasons to where he is now. But they stressed they needed to see more competitiveness from him. If that happens, there will be opportunity. 

13. That said, when it comes to waivers, everyone’s waiting on the goalies. Teams to watch: Buffalo (Eric Comrie or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen); Detroit (Alex Lyon and James Reimer); Montreal (Cayden Primeau); Philadelphia (Felix Sandstrom); Toronto (Martin Jones). Some teams say they might carry three goalies, but no one ever believes them until it actually happens.

Columbus claimed Spencer Martin. Colorado and Tampa Bay have short-term injury needs. (One executive mentioned St. Louis’s Malcolm Subban for the Lightning, because he was outstanding against their AHL team, Syracuse, in the playoffs.) Will Buffalo keep the veteran Comrie or the higher ceiling of Luukkonen? (Comrie had a very good pre-season start against Pittsburgh.) Lyon saved Florida’s season late last year. The Red Wings got him with a guaranteed second year; would they risk it on waivers?

14. Toronto feels it avoided the worst with Conor Timmins’ injury. Looks like four-to-six weeks. There was initial fear it was much more serious.

15. Thing I liked hearing in the pre-season: one team sent a prospect back to his junior team after a really strong game. It seemed counterintuitive, so I asked why. “Let him leave on a high,” was the answer. He wasn’t ready for the NHL, but instead of having the player walking away sadly after a poor performance, he leaves feeling good about himself. I like that. 

16. There was not a player I was hoping for more in the pre-season than Brandon Sutter. And there was a legitimate route to a roster spot in Edmonton, with the Oilers very interested in making room for him.

“The one thing I said to myself was that if I wasn’t fully 100 per cent, I wasn’t going to do it,” he said Wednesday. “The first game against Winnipeg, I was excited, but nervous. The second game, I felt pretty good. But the third game in Vancouver, after the first three shifts, I felt weird. Crappy, again. At that point I knew. Sitting on the bench thinking, ‘Let’s get this game over with.’ That’s no way to play in the NHL.” 

17. Sutter joined the Oilers on a professional tryout after missing two seasons because of long COVID.

“I made so much progress (last winter) that I was getting close to feeling normal. I didn’t think I’d ever get another chance. I really thought I could give it a full go. But, it just seemed like as things started ramping up, it went backwards. It’s tough, there was opportunity there.”

Is he feeling OK? “I’m all right. Tough couple of days. Mixed emotions, no different from anyone else. It’s not the way you draw it up. But I’m proud I gave myself another opportunity. It’s not the answer I want, but at least I got an answer.”

He said one of the toughest things will be that he never got to share more of his career with his three children, who are six, five and two. They did get to go to one of his games with the Oilers, and loved the extra access they got. The positive is no more moving around, and he will be home more. No doubt his father and uncles will put him to work on the ranch.

18. Sutter explained what happened to him as an “immune system dysregulation. A wide range of symptoms: shortness of breath, chest pains, gastro-intestinal, crazy fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, things you can’t explain. You go for tests, bloodwork and everything comes back normal. So frustrating. You’re told everything is OK, but you can’t believe how horrible you feel.”

Sutter stresses he’s not a conspiracy theorist or an anti-vaxxer, but between getting COVID-19 and taking the shots, one thing that was explained to him is, “if your immune system is not in the right place,” you can feel effects that are worse than others.

"Obviously, it’s more complex than that, but it’s only been three years," he said. "We don’t know enough about it. I don’t know why am I affected differently than others. I wish there was one final answer, and feel we will get there, but just don’t know how long."

19. One thing that shouldn’t be forgotten: What an absolute horse Sutter was earlier in his career. He loved the challenge of battling some of the game's great centres. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity to play," he said. "And all the people who helped me along the way.”

He made sure to point out the trainers and other behind-the-scenes staff. “Just thankful to be part of it all.” 

20. A few weeks ago, Julian Sime got a text from 13-year pro Cameron Gaunce saying, “Drop everything you’re doing. Patrick Kane needs a goalie.”

Sime, a 25-year-old who spent the last seven years going from Wichita Falls (North American Hockey League) to hometown Mississauga (Ontario Junior Hockey League) to North Bay (OHL) to the University of Waterloo, became Kane’s on-ice sparring partner as the future Hall of Famer continued his recovery from hip surgery.

“His shot is so accurate,” Sime said last week. “You think you’ve got the line, and he finds the corner.”

To him, there’s not a doubt in the world Kane can play. “Grabbing pucks off the wall. Breakout passing accuracy drills. Still has it,” he said.

21. Sime played minor midget with Montreal’s Michael Pezzetta. That friendship led to Pezzetta inviting him to summer skates with NHLers who needed a goalie. That’s where Sime met Gaunce and, among others, Connor McDavid. He and Kane are the two who really stuck with Sime.

“What McDavid can do with speed boggles the mind,” the goalie said. I wondered if a player like Kane (or his representatives) would want some kind of non-disclosure agreement for these rehab sessions, but there was nothing like that. But he knows to be seen, not heard.

“Keep (talk) brief, never ask for anything,” he said. No autographs? “I did get some video of myself making some saves (on Kane). I showed my parents and my dad was super proud of me.”

Sime finished a sports business degree at Waterloo in Ontario with two minors, then played four games at the end of last year for the Knoxville Ice Bears of the Southern Professional Hockey League. He’s headed this week to try out for Jason Payne’s ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones, with the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem as another option. After Kane and McDavid, should be a piece of cake.

22. I did ask Sime who had the best shot he faced in minor hockey. His answer was Adam Mascherin, once drafted by both Florida and Dallas, now in Sweden. “He had a pro shot at age 14.”

23. On Kane’s future, remember that his first road roommate in 2007-08 was Kevyn Adams — who also made to sure to invite him for dinner when the team was at home. They’ve maintained a good relationship. Another team that made its interest known in the summer was Florida. Let’s see how everyone starts, because that will be a factor in Kane’s decision.

24. Got a bit of a laugh seeing the Buffalo Sabres on the sidelines last weekend as the Bills hammered the Miami Dolphins. There were some social media photos of Maple Leaf players getting this excellent experience a few weeks ago, and the Sabres were none too pleased.

25. From the 32 Thoughts podcast, new Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson on his connection as agent to McDavid, and whether or not it means the captain is guaranteed to stay long-term: “Everybody wants him to stay, everybody wants Leon to stay. That's obvious. I think that fans assume it's a done deal. The thing we have to do here is show those two guys, and other players, that we're going to be super-competitive and competing for a Cup every year. If we do that, we have a really good opportunity to keep everybody here. I'm stating the obvious, but (McDavid and Draisaitl) are pillars of this team. They're pillars in the community. They're embedded in charitable stuff. They love Edmonton and their fans. So, as long as we're competing at the highest level, I'm optimistic that we're going to be able to keep everybody. But it's not a done deal. ... They’re free to make decisions on their own when they're free agents. I went to try my best to avoid that.”

26. Count Evander Kane as someone who would like to see Atlanta get a third NHL shot. He is adamant it can work.

“You talk about a great city to live in,” he said. “A great city to be a part of. The fan base. Everybody talks about a lack of fans, but the fanbase we had there was so awesome. They were so passionate about us as a hockey team. We had fans at practice all the time. As an 18-year-old, I loved being there. Great travel. Four other major sports. There’s lots to do. It’s a hub, you can get anywhere in the U.S. or even internationally from Atlanta. There’s so many good things I have to say about it. I would be 100 per cent supportive.”

Would he play there again? “Yes. Yes, I would. ... I come from Vancouver, which is a melting pot for a lot of different cultures. I go as an 18-year-old to Atlanta where you’re most likely either black, white or you’re both. So, it was a bit of a culture change for me but I definitely picked up on Southern hospitality in a real genuine way. Made it very welcoming for me to be part of that community."

27. Jeff Marek had a great follow-up for Kane: Will you be the last Thrasher? “Well, I plan to play another seven or eight years. I hope to be, yes.”

Zach Bogosian and Blake Wheeler are the other options.

28. Frederik Andersen’s younger brother, Valdemar, picked up his first professional win last month for the Herning Blue Fox in Denmark. Valdemar, who is 18 and also a goalie, has the size and talent, but suffered two collarbone injuries that set him back. It wouldn’t be a stunner if a CHL team thinks about a 2024-25 apprenticeship. 

29. Congratulations to one of hockey’s quiet, great people, Jamie Kompon. The two-time Stanley Cup-winning assistant coach (Chicago and Los Angeles) was named to the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Ryan Parent, who played 106 NHL games with Philadelphia and Vancouver, is going in, too.

30. More next week on some terrific summer reading, but just started "Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero." Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash on a humanitarian mission when I was two. He was Carlos Delgado’s favourite player and had an absolute cannon for an arm. (I’ve got a thing for outfielders who can really throw: Dwight Evans, Shawn Green, Vladimir Guerrero, Dave “The Cobra” Parker, Yasiel Puig et al.) There’s a story in the book that’s already stuck with me. A film company offered Clemente $100 to hit into a triple play for the 1970s television sitcom "The Odd Couple." Clemente refused, saying, “Nobody buys Roberto Clemente for cheap! I have my pride! I am a hero to my people!” I generally wouldn’t recommend the “hero to my people bit” — Clemente was one of few who could legitimately say it — but, in general, it’s a good way to value yourself. 

31. "MJ the Musical" at the Neil Simon Theatre in Manhattan: Highly recommended. Excellent performances and a thought-provoking twist during "Thriller."

32. Two things about Chris Snow really stick in my head. The first is that, in 2019, when he began his trial of an experimental gene therapy to treat ALS, he didn’t know for six months if he was in the group receiving the treatment or the group receiving a placebo. I didn’t say anything but imagined the stress I’d feel not knowing if I actually was receiving treatment for such an insidious disease when my future depended on it. As always, Chris handled it with a level of calm and grace I couldn’t have achieved.

The second is from a conversation after he left sportswriting and moved into management. He said that what really struck him was seeing firsthand how families were affected by the things we wrote and said. Obviously, there are times you have to be blunt, but I’ve never liked gratuitous shots just for the hell of it, and Snow’s insight cemented that feeling.

There will be an incredible support network for Kelsie, Cohen and Willa Snow. I have an understanding of what they are going through. My mother, Molly, died on her 35th birthday in 1982 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Our relationship was complicated, but I do remember one excellent piece of advice: She was happy when we were happy, so the truest way of honouring her was to live a happy life. That way, wherever she was watching us, she’d be happy too. It’s a little bit hokey, but there were people I shared it with who say there were times that thought pulled them out of the muck.

Chris’s legacy will grow in the next few years because he took the experimental treatment. His unselfishness advanced treatment and someday will lead to the ALS medical breakthrough we so badly need.