Easy, now. First, no one died. Second, there is more than one side to this.
Bettman fought for a long time, and succeded, in getting a cap in place. He's actually the good guy here. Is he the best guy to be running the NHL? No. He's not an old-time-hockey fan. He's a basketball guy. He learned how to run a league from David Stern. Not a bad thing, but when it comes to discipline, well...Stern just this past season finally got the job done.
Still, talk to the real hockey fans, and we want to be able to say "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out!" The Gordie Howe hatrick (a goal, an assist, and a fight in one game) is rare. Darren McCarty did have a few last season, but in my opinion, that should be an official stat.
What's worse, is the extinction of the true power forward. There used to be an unofficial stat called the power forward's hatrick. It consisted of a player scoring 50 goals, 100 points, and compiling 200 penalty minutes in one season.
Under Gary Bettman's reign as commissioner, all of those stats have almost disappeared. In the last season, the most goals scored was 41. No one had 100 points. Fighting is almost nonexistant today. When it does happen, we get a Bertuzzi incident.
What has happened is an increase in stick work and cluting and grabbing. Plus, a whole lot of cheap shots to star players. It used to be that teams would have an average of two enforcers ont he bench. Marty McSorely made his career as Wayne Gretzky's bodyguard.
To win the Stanley Cup in '97 and '98, the Wings realized they needed a second, and more importantly, full time enforcer, because they couldn't afford to lose Darren McCarty all the time. They found one of the best enforcers in the NHL playing in a bear league, and gave him a contract. His name was Joe Kocur. This was his second stint with the Wings. He played on the original Grind Line with Draper and Maltby. And for his first fight, he beat up best friend, and former teammate and Bruise Brother, Bob Probert, the other most feared enforcer at the time. No one took another cheap shot at the Wings' stars with Kocur on the bench.
Back when the players policed themselves, little punks didn't try to make names for themselves by injuring the big guns. Claude Lemieux pissed of Cam Neely once while he was with New Jersey in '95. Neely didn't take too kindly to that, and tossed the turtle all over a corner of the ice. It wasn't pretty.
Peter Forsberg never had a chance in Europe. There is not fighting over there. When that punk went after him, he had nothing to fear. There was no Probert or Kocur or Domi to come off the bench on the next shift. In Europe, the cheap shots are worse than in America. At least fighting is still legal here, even if it is limitted.
Over the last 8 years, the league has been trying to take away the players' ability to protect themselves, thinking that fines and suspensions work better. Nothing works better than a good beating. Not in an emotional, physical game like hockey.
When Steve Moore checked Nasland, giving him a cuncussion, no one could fight him then. Moore didn't mean to hurt Naslund. But had there not been an instigator rule, Moore would have had to face Bertuzzi on his next shift. It wouldn't have been as brutal. Moore would have probably walked away with a bloody nose. He would have taken his licks, appologized for the hit, and that would have been the end of it.
Instead, Vancouver had to wait. What made it worse was their hotheaded coach. Same guy who was the coach in Colorado during the Lemieux hit on Draper. Same guy who coached two games, one in each of the following years, against with Red Wings, where everyone on the ice brawled, even the goalies. Truth is, those were some good times. Fighting was still present, and hockey was still fun.
The anger had to stir in Vancouver, and all night long the next time they met Colorado, everyone wanted a piece of Moore. Moore didn't shy away. He dropped the gloves. Once. That should have been it. He took his punches. He thought he had attoned. After all, Naslund would be back, and it was an accident. But players still wanted a piece of him. The coach should have seen that. He should have kept Moore off the ice. But it was the end of the game, and Moore was a very good defensive center, protecting and important lead.
What Bertuzzi did was inexcusable. Moore never saw it coming, and we all know what happened.
I think Bertuzzi should have sat for another year. He wasn't able to play in Europe this past year. I think he should have beened banned from the NHL and international compition, but no banned from a European league.
However, Moore may be on his way to being cleared to return to hockey. I don't know that he will. But it might be a possibility. Along with that is all the positive talk about the NHL right now. The league wasn't going to make him sit for more than 20 games this year.
There are politics involved. Canada may want Bertuzzi in the Olympics.
There are other issues as well.
Vancouver needs Bertuzzi because now they have a real shot at winning the Stanley Cup. They still need a goaltender, but everything else in place.
As for why now instead of December?
Right now, everyone is talking about how the small market teams can compete right now. This is a new NHL. This NHL is going to be very exciting to watch in a few more years as more talented youngsters from Europe and the US break in. And there will be a lot more talent from the US. USA Hockey is doing an amazing job in recruiting and teaching a new generation of stars. While everyone is talking about that, the NHL can simply slip Bertuzzi back in, and while he will get some attention, the negative reaction will be squashed by the positive outlook.
By the way, the decision was made back in April that Bertuzzi would be reinstated this year. They just waited until now to announce it.
