BETTMAN BEEF

As the NHL gathers its corporate sponsors (and alienates a couple of its best players) at the All-Star Game in Montreal this weekend let me focus the emphasis on “weekend”.

When the mid-season schmooze-fest was awarded to Dallas the league decided that a move to mid-week would give the All-Star Game better exposure, that way it wouldn’t have to compete with all those weekend glory sports that television is littered with in late January. Sports like…well…early season college basketball, and…uh…

Truth be told it was the first All-Star Game in three years because of the NHL’s participation in the Olympics and their little tiff with the players called the Lockout – the one that scrapped an entire season - therefore, with nothing fresh on anybody’s mind, what a perfect opportunity to “experiment”.

To my recollection no All-Star Game had been played in the middle of a work week prior to this “outside the box” event, and no All-Star Game since has been scheduled for a Tuesday or Wednesday night in January.

Thanks for making us your southern Petri dish NHL.

If Gary’s response would be, hey we tried it and it didn’t work, then why was he so adamant about “giving the changes a three year window to fully see how they work” when it came to the regular season schedule, some rules, etc.? He always scolds the media about taking “snapshots” of the grander picture. I hope he had time to get pictures of Hump-Day 07’.

The Stars organization and Dallas did the best they could with what the league gave them back in 2007 – it isn’t easy creating an All-Star “Week” with very little assistance. But let there be no misconception, the NHL owes Dallas – their jewel franchise in the league’s now struggling Sunbelt.

A long weekend full of superstars, showstoppers and Stetsons – before we die should suffice, Gary.