EDMONTON, AB — Gary Bettman is popular?
Never thought I'd be saying that. But not only is he popular, he deserves it.
As the commissioner of the NHL, Bettman and the league have executed a nearly flawless return-to-play plan and the bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto look to be "un-burstable", to make up my own new word.
With the St. Louis Cardinals and the rest of baseball grappling daily with COVID-19 related questions, the NHL seems to be past all of that up in Canada. They're on to other things, like playing intense playoff hockey for around 10 hours a day.
To be fair to all sports, none of this is easy, and there's no 100% right path. Each league has made their way the best way they thought they could. The NHL just happens to be doing it better.
So far in the bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto there hasn't been one person test positive. Not one. As of Monday, the NHL had conducted 7,013 tests. All negative.
And the NHL isn't just winning this from a virus perspective. Everything else has been smooth as well.
Yes, playoff hockey without fans does lose something, but the league has done its best. The pumped in noise isn't awful, the team-centric music and cheers are great and the presentation in the arenas and on TV has been top notch.
They even have people in masks at the ready to throw hats on the ice after hat tricks. And the hats are representative of that specific team. It's incredible.
Also yes, a few of the TV broadcasts have seemed to be a bit delayed between announcers and the action with many of the broadcasters at home, but I'm confident everything will be refined to perfect as games continue.
And it's not just the experience for fans that's working. Of course it's not ideal for the players to be confined in a limited space for up to multiple months, but the NHL seems to be making them pretty happy.
There haven't seemed to be any griping about the food (there are even restaurants in the bubble players can go to), the amenities for entertainment seem to be ample and growing and there's even been the occasional touch of home.
The teams had pictures from players' families waiting in their hotels when they arrived. Brilliant.
Heck, even media relations has been great. In my (albeit limited) dealings with the NHL when it comes to media relations over the past two years or so, they've always been above average.
But they've made things simple and smooth during a time when helping out the media is probably pretty low on their list of important things to take care of.
And oh yeah, the hockey has been great. Playoff hockey is always some of the best sports action you can possibly watch, and this year we get more of it than ever. There have been multiple days I find myself watching random games on TV. I can't say I often do that for hockey when it's not the Blues playing.
Of course, all it takes is one incident for the whole thing to be reevaluated. The virus doesn't discriminate, and there's always the possibility it finds its way inside the bubble.
But for now, hockey is the envy of the sports world. And Gary Bettman is officially off his perch as most hated commissioner in sports (hello Rob Manfred).
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