Bettman Presser Notes: World Cup, Senators, Relocation, Nichushkin, Front Office

Before the start of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights, Commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, and Deputy Commissioner of the NHL, Bill Daly, gave their annual version of hockey’s “State of the Union” address to the media. The two spoke at length about a plethora of topics, and one of the more intriguing tidbits was that the NHL is looking into bringing back the World Cup of Hockey (Tweet Link).

In 1996, what was formerly known as the Canada Cup, the World Cup of Hockey was born, and it took place at the then-new Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and also the then-new Bell Centre in Montreal. The United States was the eventual champion, beating Canada in three games.

The tournament took a short break, continuing again in 2004, where Canada became the eventual winner against Finland. The last time the tournament was held was back in 2016 when Canada beat the European team in two games.

In the 2016 rendition, the World Cup of Hockey featured new teams such as Europe and North America. The European team featured countries that were not represented by their own national teams, including players from countries such as Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, etc. The North American, which ended up being one of the most fun teams to watch during the tournament, featured players from Canada and the United States that were under the age of 23.

Other notes:

• As the Ottawa Senators look to find a new owner, Bettman states that the process could still take a couple more weeks (Tweet Link). The last time the Senators went through a sale was back in 2003 when the late Eugene Melnyk purchased the team for a reported sum of $92MM. Melnyk oversaw the Senators team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007, and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017. Having passed in the spring of 2022, the team residing in Canada’s capital should have a new owner by the end of the month.
• After the announcement that the city of Tempe would not be housing the Arizona Coyotes, rumors immediately sprung about a possible relocation. In the press conference, Bettman reported that Ryan Smith, the current owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, has expressed interest in relocating the Coyotes to Salt Lake City (Tweet Link). Although this is considerable news, especially coming from the Commissioner, Bettman did express a strong desire for the Coyotes to remain in Arizona and says that the NHL is helping the franchise find locations in Phoenix.
• Early in the 2023 NHL Playoffs, it was reported that forward Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche would be sent home for the remainder of the playoffs. Asked about this during their press conference, especially in light of the police body came footage being released, Daly reports that Nichushkin is not under investigation, and is free to play during the 2023-24 NHL season (Tweet Link). Although it was never reported otherwise, it is positive news for Colorado, after recently receiving news that captain Gabriel Landeskog would miss the entirety of next season.
• As eliminated teams are looking to fill both General Manager and head coach vacancies, it appears that two names could be officially coming to the market. Bettman reports that longtime NHL head coach, Joel Quenneville, and former General Manager, Stan Bowman, have both requested interviews to be reinstated in the league (Tweet Link). Both have been prohibited from working in the NHL ever since the sexual assault exposure from former player, Kyle Beach, came out during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.