Bettman and Goodenow Are Not the Problem

The Globe and Mail reports that the leaders of the NHL lockout are secure in their jobs. Nobody is planning a coup to replace Bob Goodenow as head of the Players' Association or Gary Bettman as NHL commissioner.

Recent reports - like this one - speculated that one man or the other might be losing the support of his employers. Many, many bloggers and reporters identify them as the two biggest obstacles to making a deal.

I certainly don't see Bettman and Goodenow as part of the solution. I have been among those calling for both heads on a platter.

But the evidence increasingly works against the evil leader theory. When you consider the range of players and executives who joined negotiations over the last few weeks, it's obvious that the NHL lockout cannot be reduced to personalities and private agendas.

Goodenow and Bettman give us two convenient, highly visible and annoying targets. If the two of them suddenly vanished from the hockey world, never to be seen again, the tears shed would not fill a thimble.

But the divide between the NHL and its Players' Association is institutional. Changing the heads won't change the monsters.