NHL.COM: HARD HITTING INTERVIEWS

I was flipping through NHL.com today trying to see if they showed the replay of the fake goalie interference on Holmstrom (whose ass was over-the-line although nothing was touching the paint) and the uncalled (yet real) interference on Loui Eriksson.

Enough virtual ink has been spilled on the bullshit-refereeing this post season and I'm not going to waste more, but I did see that NHL.com had a "Gary Bettman Transcript" link on the home page. I thought maybe Bettman addressed his horribly-inconsistent ref crew. Alas, the interview was before the game (lucky Gary!), but he did have to answer some difficult questions:

Q. If these series do end today, tomorrow, Saturday, is there a provision to move the Stanley Cup Final up or do we have to wait till the 26th?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: No. I always hate to speculate about what might happen. So even my mere answering your perfectly appropriate question would suggest that we even think in those terms.

But depending on when these series end, we have a variety of contingency plans that deal with whether or not the series go the distance or whether or not they don't.

Q. Very well said.

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Thank you (smiling).
[...]
Q. Going forward, is there any talk about expansion, especially some potentially attractive markets out there, Las Vegas, Seattle?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: There are expressions of interest that we've been getting from a variety of places, which have been well-chronicled: Kansas City, Seattle, Winnipeg, Las Vegas.
[...]
Q. Is it important to have scorers on the goalie equipment committee?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: That was actually our thinking. Both the Players' Association members are a mix of goaltenders and shooters, and we did the same thing. All of our members are GMs who were former players, both as skaters and as goaltenders. So we're going to try and get a balance of view as to the best way to proceed.

Honestly, I've seen beer-league softballs thrown harder than that. This entire "transcript" is just a way to all Gary Asshat to play the politician and answer questions with varying levels of bullshit.

[That drawing is part of a collection by Ken Henderson. He had a bunch of different NHL/Bettman Sucks related images on his site]