Gary Bettman’s weird answer exposes his bias against Canadian teams

During a press conference on Wednesday against of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ home opener, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was asked a simple question by reporter Lance Hornby: what part of him wants to see a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup before he retires?

Bettman smiled and gave one of his trademark politician answers:

“I love all my children, my grandchildren, and all my teams equally. The beauty of our competitive balance is anything can happen.”

It was meant to sound diplomatic, but to Canadian fans, it landed like a familiar insult. After more than three decades without a Cup north of the border, Bettman’s answer only confirmed what many already believe: that the league’s top executive has little interest in helping its Canadian markets thrive.

Under Bettman’s leadership, two Canadian teams have been relocated to the U.S., and only one, the Winnipeg Jets, has been brought back. Meanwhile, Arizona was given endless lifelines before being moved to Salt Lake City, a city with less than half the population of Quebec City, which still doesn’t have a team ever since the Nordiques moved to Colorado in 1995.

Now, new rules in the updated Collective Bargaining Agreement threaten to make things even harder for Canadian franchises. Starting in 2026–27, signing bonuses will be capped at 60% of a contract’s total value, a move that disproportionately hurts high-tax markets like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Players on the Maple Leafs, for example, give up more than 53% of their salaries to federal and provincial taxes, while those on the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, or Tampa Bay Lightning pay around 37%. Signing bonuses were one of the few ways Canadian teams could stay competitive in negotiations. Soon, even that advantage will vanish.

For all his talk of parity, Bettman’s track record tells a different story. From tax disadvantages to relocation decisions, his version of “competitive balance” has long left Canadian hockey on the losing end.

Maybe he really does love all his teams equally, just some a little more equally than others.