NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is not a particularly popular man, if the boos and jeers he tends to weather in the face of NHL fans are any indication.
He's overseen a major period of growth for the NHL - long the least popular of the four major sports leagues in the North America - in its 97-year history, developing and maintaining a modernity and financial prosperity the game has not historically been known for, yet he seems to be reviled amongst the general NHL-viewing public.
Bettman - the brash American commissioner of a league ruled by Canadian fans that tend to prefer a more soft-spoken, reserved style - recently attended the 2015 Sports Business Awards in New York City, honoring the legacy of former NBC Sports chair Dick Ebersol.
Walking the red carpet, Bettman was terse when HNGN broached the subject of the continued exploratory expansion efforts which the NHL has recently taken part in, albeit under somewhat tight, hiding-in-plain-sight, wraps.
"We're not involved in any expansion efforts," Bettman said. "There's a lot of speculation and there's a lot of interest, but we haven't decided what, if anything we're going to do with it."
The NHL's board of governors is set to meet in Las Vegas in June, as those exploratory efforts by potential Las Vegas owner Bill Foley continue. Foley has been running a season-ticket drive since February in an attempt to gauge the viability of the market.
Foley began with a stated goal of gathering 10,000 commitments from Las Vegas residents and land a franchise in the sports betting capital of the world by 2016-17, per Yahoo! Sports.
Foley reached and exceeded his goal of 10,000 commitments from "grass-roots buyers, individuals and small businesses throughout the Las Vegas area," according to a report from Scott Burnside of ESPN published in March, ostensibly moving expansion into its next phase and toward larger corporations and major casinos.
Various reports suggested the league did not know what to expect from the Las Vegas market, but it has to be pleased by Foley's progress thus far - progress which also includes plans for a new sports arena located directly on the Strip.
As for current NHL happenings, Bettman is likely pleased by the news of long-time Detroit Red Wings bench boss Mike Babcock choosing to join the moribund Toronto Maple Leafs over a return to the Motor City - the team he's helmed to immense success over the past decade - and the Buffalo Sabres, who were reportedly hot on his trail.
"I think that's very exciting for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans," Bettman said.
Babcock was handed an eight-year, $50 million contract by the Leafs and President Brendan Shanahan Wednesday - the team held a press conference on Thursday to formally introduce Babcock and discuss the new era of Maple Leafs hockey - making him the highest-paid coach in NHL history.
Toronto is one of the biggest markets for the NHL - per Forbes, this is the ninth year running that the Maple Leafs have come in as the highest-valued franchise in the league, now at a whopping $1.3 billion - so Babcock's decision to sign there is good for Bettman as much as it's good news for fans of the Maple Leafs.
As for the current 2015 NHL playoffs, Bettman wasn't willing to venture a guess at a potential victor out of the remaining pool of teams, which includes the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks but said instead that he's rooting for just one thing: "excitement."
