Photo: bridgetds / flickr
Teemu Selanne recently wrote an entry in his blog he’s been keeping on Finnish website mtv3 eloquently titled “Mika Matta, Gary Bettman? (What Gives, Gary Bettman?) All in Finnish of course, but blessed be the makers of Google Translate to help us non-Finnish speaking folks decipher what he has to say. Selanne is none to pleased with Gary Bettman or the league owners concerning the current lockout situation. He goes so far as to point out Minnesota Wild’s owner Craig Leipold as a prime example while taking jabs at Bettman.
When it comes to his feelings on Bettman, he doesn’t hold back saying
Gary Bettman has been the NHL’s boss for almost 20 years. He was hired by the NHL to bring the salary cap, and so he did, as he had received the salary cap NBA Basketball: acquisition. Twice the lockout has been a stoppage during his reign, and each time the lockout is done. Now it is the third! He is certainly the NHL’s most hated person.
Nothing we didn’t already know beforehand, but when it comes from Selanne it becomes confirmed. Selanne is often referred to as one of the nicest guys in the league, and one of the most respected, so when he speaks people listen.
Bettman; however, is not the only guilty party. Selanne takes time to use Craig Leipold as an example of how the owner’s deserve blame as well by noting [quote]
A perfect example is the Minnesota owner Craig Leipold, who is also one of the NHL’s members of the group. He makes a two-player, Zach and Ryan Suterin A couple with 13 years and more than $ 100 million contracts (per player) and tells the hockey world how excited the entire Minnesota is fresh purchases. The next day, he put a jacket on top of the NHL, going to the other side of the table and tells the same hockey world how incomprehensible are these new long-term contracts. Come on!
Clearly Anaheim’s adopted son is none to pleased with what’s been going on, and who could blame him? Now Anaheim Fans have two questions on their minds: When will this lockout end? and have we seen The Flash’s last game without knowing it? Only time will tell.
