Gary Bettman Work Quotations

I have heard recent comments by the union and players who say they expect a work stoppage of anywhere from a season to a season and a half or even longer,

If an official puts his whistle away, they should put the official away for the rest of the playoffs. How long you work in the playoffs is discretionary, and that depends on how well you're working. And if a guy decides he's putting the whistle away, then he's done.

I believe that I owe it to our fans, our business partners, all the people that work in and about the game, that I'm going to have to make an official announcement. But in some respects, I'm sort of doing that now because I think everybody understands the timetable.

Phyllis Gretzky's influence on her family no doubt matches Wayne's impact on hockey. She taught tenaciousness and teamwork, hard work and humility, respect for people and for the game. Her legacy is defined daily by the way Wayne, and all her children, have shared those lessons in every area of their lives.

We had a candid dialogue, ... If Congress, because of what's going on in some other sports, thinks we need to do more, then we'll work with Congress.

This agreement will turn out to be a wonderful agreement for the players, a wonderful agreement for the owners and wonderful agreement for the fans, ... Exactly how this will work will emerge over the coming weeks and months. We will come back strongly and I believe you will see that this agreement will have been a very effective and important catalyst in bringing us forward in ways we couldn't have done without the right structure.

In places where there still are some empty seats, there are fewer empty seats than there were in the past. I didn't expect we'd come back from the work stoppage to 100 per cent of capacity overnight, but the fact that we're up 5 per cent is spectacular. I knew that when we got everything put to bed and fixed the right way, the result would be compelling enough that our fans would respond.

How long you work in the playoffs is discretionary. It depends how well you are working. And if a guy decides he's putting the whistle away, then he's done.