BETTMAN INDUCTION TO HALL OF FAME NEARS.

Place in Hall ‘deserved in every way’

Somewhere in his office or home, Gary Bettman owns a Stan Lee cartoon depicting himself at super strength.

We’ll assume it’s themed upon using his powers for good causes, though some people, especially fans in Canada, might have trouble consigning him anywhere but the dark side of National Hockey League leadership.

Three lockouts, one that wiped out a whole season, happened under the commissioner’s watch, yet his end game was in line with what the board of governors envisioned when he was brought on board in February of 1993 at age 40. He brought order to their loose lodge, took pro hockey into the modern era and fired a wraparound that covered the continent and much of the globe with the NHL brand.

For staying with that vision, the commissioner is joining presidential predecessors Clarence Campbell and John Ziegler in the Hockey Hall of Fame’s builder wing.

“Yes he (angered some people) and I can’t say I agreed with everything he did,” said Lou Lamoriello, general manager of three teams in the Bettman era.

“But the big thing is that he made the game worldly, he made it North American, he put it on the proper course. And he kept a lot of franchises alive.

“What he’s getting now, going into the Hall, is deserved in every way.”

In his first ever meeting with the media at league meetings in Montreal, the former No. 3 man in the NBA asked not to be pre-judged by his lack of hockey acumen but by his strengths in legal, marketing and management-player business matters.

Bill Wirtz and some old guard owners were still influential in a 21-team league, which was in danger of stagnating while baseball, football and basketball pushed the envelope as a new century approached. One of Bettman’s first orders of business was to civilize the often raucous governors’ meetings, by installing individual microphones so each man could be heard — or cut off if need be.

“A well-run league almost runs itself,” was one of his maxims.

In 2016, while appearing at the MIT/Sloane Analytics Conference, Bettman reflected of how his world and hockey’s had changed.

“E-mail was just getting started, we didn’t have an over-the-air television presence on a network in the U.S. There was no nhl.com, no streaming out-of-market packages. If you wanted scores of an out-of-town game, you had to call Sports Phone to get them.

“If we had to discipline a player for something that happened in a game, typically if the game was being televised, somebody had to FedEx a cassette to us, which we’d get a day or two later.

What has transpired because of technological advances and the digital platforms has enabled us to function better as a league — in real time.”

Outdoor games, more than 20 since the concept was first explored under Bettman, generated more than a million fans in attendance, 105,000 in one day at the University of Michigan.

“Some suggest there are too many of them,” Bettman said. “If all you do is watch on TV, you say, ‘Well, the 18th game was nice, but not as special as the first’. But if you go to a game, the way our fans come together as a community, how they react in the elements, it takes the game back to its roots.”

The sport certainly didn’t have much labour strife in its past when players were subjugated. But Bettman was hired in part with a mandate to give owners a hammer after a new militant version of the union arose from the ashes of Alan Eagleson’s term. Ziegler endured a brief player strike in the spring of 1992, a wake-up call for the board.

Bettman and union executive director Bob Goodenow were in two fierce collective bargaining wars that changed the course of hockey’s labour relations and pay structure. But only Bettman — and his long-sought salary cap — were in place at the end of the torched 2004-05 season, along with a change in philosophy on rules that made the world’s fastest sport even faster.

Another half year was lost in 2012-13 against the union’s new boss, Donald Fehr. Lamoriello acknowledged Bettman didn’t get much applause during work stoppages.

“But I’ve had the good fortune of being on the executive committee in two different CBA negotiations with Gary. He has extreme intelligence and common sense, not always the case with a lot of people.”

For Canadians, seeing the league expand to nontraditional markets the past quarter century was hard to reconcile while cities at home went hungry for hockey. But there was an assistance plan worked out to stop more teams gravitating south with the stronger American dollar. Calgary and Edmonton stayed, Winnipeg got its franchise back via Atlanta.

“Our entire organization views this as a very well-deserved honour for commissioner Bettman,” said Larry Tanenbaum, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment chairman and governor. “For more than 25 years, he has been a passionate steward of the game and helped lead the growth of hockey not only within the NHL, but around the world. Personally, Gary has been a constant supporter of our work here in Toronto and we’re proud to see him receive this honour.”

By the time the league celebrated its 2017-18 centennial, Bettman had become well immersed in its history, able to fully appreciate Rocket Richard’s impact, the humility of Gordie Howe and to comfortably hob nob with everyone from Wayne Gretzky to Alex Ovechkin.

He calls handing out the Cup every year to the winning captain one of his biggest thrills and playfully banters with the audience that keeps booing him every year at whatever city hosts the draft. The book is not closed on contentious issues such as concussion research and restoring Olympic involvement, though the Hall’s selection committee put that aside in voting to select him before his tenure as commissioner ends.

Bettman said he was surprised by his early induction, praising those who contribute to all facets of the game.

“I’m proud that at the league level and at the club level, both on and off the ice, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people that are committed to and have been working very hard to grow the game at all levels.

“I think there are more people now involved in hockey, watching hockey, fans of hockey, not just at the NHL level, but at all levels. And to see this game, which is so special; the people, the camaraderie, the teamwork, the values that we’ve believed the game instils, make a difference in people’s lives ... to see that impact grow geographically and in sheer numbers has been very rewarding for everyone associated with the game.”