EDMONTON – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly held their annual Stanley Cup press conference before Game 1, and the lack of drama was actually a great sign for the league.
One topic that did get on Bettman's nerves, however, was all the talk about how teams, such as the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, have been so successful lately, given that they reside in a tax-free state.
Bettman even had Daly answer the question of whether the NHL will be looking to address the matter in the next collective bargaining agreement because the commissioner said he hates the issue.
For the record, Daly said there are no plans to address the matter in the next CBA, which the league and NHLPA are working on right now. While he said some franchises have raised it as a concern, the league isn't worried at this point.
"These imbalances have existed forever," Daly said. "There's nothing new here. There are so many reasons why a player may choose to play in a particular location for a particular team, for a particular coach, that have nothing to do with the tax situation in that market."
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Ron Hainsey, the NHLPA's assistant executive director, had some great words on the matter after the press conference, when he and union head Marty Walsh had their own scrum with reporters.
"Who ran the league between 2008 and ’20?" Hainsey said. "Boston, Pittsburgh, L.A., Chicago, Detroit for a bit. Were we supposed to expect Tampa and Florida not to be good at some point? I'm baffled this keeps coming up. You never hear about this in the NFL or NBA."
Otherwise, Bettman and Daly addressed a number of topics.
On how the current CBA negotiations are going compared to in the past: "No comparison," Bettman said. "We are having very constructive, cordial dialogue. I think we're in really good shape."
Walsh echoed this sentiment.
On expansion into markets such as Houston, Atlanta or Phoenix: "We've gotten a lot of interest," Daly said. The deputy commissioner went on to note that there are no formal expansion bid processes on the docket, but if someone came to the NHL with a strong plan, they would take it to the Board of Governors.
Elsewhere, look for the New York Islanders to get some sort of all-star event in 2027 to replace the one initially announced for 2026 ahead of the Olympics. Do not expect a change to overtime/shootout rules in the regular season, and don't even ask Bettman about play-in games being added to the NHL schedule.
"By the way, we had a play-in," Bettman said. "Did you know that three clubs' positions in the playoffs weren't determined until the last game that they played in the regular season? We think that what we have is working very well."
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