How do you explain the number of Stanley Cups won by Canadian teams during the decades before Bettman's regime?
Losing in the Cup final is losing the Cup. It's not winning the Cup.
All the Stanley Cup championships handed out during Bettman's regime go to teams located in American television markets. Bettman has never found a way to get a fantastic television contract in the States.
If the majority of American teams aren't successful fans of these teams won't go to the games. The NHL is a gate driven market.
Gary's American expansion teams are propped up with revenue sharing. Bettman brought revenue sharing to the NHL. The league in its current is form kept afloat with revenue sharing comparable to a pyramid scheme.
Even if the demographics don't care about professional hockey in those markets. American teams are perpetually loaded with talent so they dominate the regular season and into playoffs, to grow the game. Canadian teams and their gate revenues increase the profit margin but lose to American teams which need to win or nobody will show up to watch the games.
Now we have sports betting fouling the game at every turn. You can't watch the game without watching online betting advertisement. Advertisement tainting the jerseys of the Edmonton Oilers as they stand front and center in the league. What a f***ing innovator, way to go Bettman.