Bettman, Tkachuk and Gretzky join the Trump administration

American President Donald Trump has unveiled his new Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition featuring NHL heavy-hitters Wayne Gretzky, Matthew Tkachuk and Gary Bettman.

From The White House:

The revitalized President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition will create school-based programs to reward excellence in physical education and support the development of a Presidential Fitness Award — working in partnership with athletes, coaches, teams, and schools to champion access to fitness and healthy living for all Americans. The Council will also play an important role in restoring tradition to college athletics, including reforming the broken transfer portal and keeping men out of women’s sports.

The Council will include Executive Director Catherine Granito, Chair Bryson DeChambeau, Saquon Barkley, Gary Bettman, Nick Bosa, Harrison Butker, Cody Campbell, Roger Goodell, Wayne Gretzky, Nelly Korda, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Mariano Rivera, Tony Romo, Annika Sörenstam, Tua Tagovailoa, Lawrence Taylor, Matthew Tkachuk, and Mariano Rivera.

Both Gretzky and Tkachuk have been public in their support for Trump in the past, with Gretzky going silent in recent months after receiving some blowback from Canadians. Bettman though, has seemingly always avoided making political statements both personally and in his role as NHL commissioner. If nothing else, it's interesting to see him involved in this new initiative and aligning himself with the President.