Why do so many hockey fans hate Gary Bettman?

There aren’t a lot of things hockey fans can agree on, but when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman takes to the ice, everyone in attendance knows that the man needs to be booed.

Answering why the current NHL Commissioner is one of the most hated figures in hockey isn’t hard. Under Bettman’s leadership, ice hockey has been completely transformed—and not always for the better. 

One of the biggest gripes hockey fans have with Bettman’s league is the utterly over-the-top commercialization the sport has suffered during the last thirty years. 

Bettman was hired with the express purpose of expanding hockey into the broader American market according to an article New York Times sports journalist Joe Lapointe wrote shortly after the new NHL Commissioner was ushered into office. 

“Bettman's mission is simple: Put a stop to labor unrest; sell the product in television's mainstream marketplace; change the violent image of the game; curb salary inflation…and help launch several new expansion teams,” Lapointe wrote. 

The new NHL Commissioner was able to accomplish all of the goals on his list during his current tenure, but each left its own rotten taste in the mouths of fans, particularly among Canadians. 

While the owners were to blame for the lockdown, Bettman was their mouthpiece according to Bleacher Report and many Canadian fans came to resent Bettman for what happened to the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets after the lockout was over. 

“Many Canadians have not forgiven Gary Bettman for relocating the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix or the Quebec Nordiques to Colorado…or for blocking the potential relocation of the Nashville Predators to Hamilton,” wrote The Hockey Writer Eugene Helfrik. 

In 2004-2005, the league was locked out again, and this time for much longer—the blowback of which fell squarely on Bettman’s shoulders as he pushed players to accept a deal that would link their salaries to the league's revenue according to Mike Heika.

“He is certainly the NHL’s most hated person!” former Finnish hockey star Teemu Selänne wrote in a blog post at the time.

“He makes more than $8 million a year," Selänne continued according to a translation from Sports Nation. "Would Mr. Bettman be willing to give up part of his salary to these ‘poor’ teams?"

The NHL’s third lockout in 20 years seemed to push most fans and sportscasters to their breaking points with Bettman, especially after the 2012-2013 season saw 628 games canceled. 

“He can say the teams are losing money and they all need to work together…He can point to all the issues and say the players need to give in on this and sacrifice that—and he may be right," wrote Sports Illustrated's Michael Rosen. 

“But Bettman's job is not just to be right,” Rosen added. “His job is to give the labor peace to his league and prosperity to his owners. And he has consistently failed at both—the latter by his own admission.”

During those first 20 years with Bettman at the helm, he also made a lot of questionable decisions in his pursuit of expanding the NHL’s marketability. 

Bettman focused heavily on developing expansion teams in America’s southern states, a move that was met with mixed results and several outright failures.

The Atlanta Thrashers only lasted 12 years before they were moved to Winnipeg and the NHL's Coyotes franchise has plagued the league ever since Bettman moved the team to Pheonix in 1996.

The real reason why most fans hate Bettmen, however, might be because the man's public persona just rubs most people the wrong way.

"Bettman isn’t warm and fuzzy," wrote LA Times sports journalist Helene Elliot. "He can be haughty, alienating the fans whose interests he claimed to be protecting when he locked players out three times during labor disputes."