TAMPA, Fla., — Gary Bettman had to laugh at a memory from the most recent time the All-Star game was down here, in 1999. When the NHL commissioner was shown the transcript of his media availability from that year, there was one thing that stuck out.
“One of the things I mentioned was that we were working with Nassau County in New York to get a new home for the Islanders,” Bettman said on Saturday just before the skills competition at Amalie Arena. “Some things just take a little more time. As we enter 2018 All-Star weekend, the Islanders are on track to build their new home and that’s one of many highlights of this season to date.”
The Islanders, under new ownership of Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin, have secured the bid to build a new arena at Belmont Park, likely to open for the 2021-22 season. They are currently in negotiations with their current home, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, to figure out where they are going to play in the interim.
Bettman and some of his associates went on a tour of the renovated Coliseum last week, which underwent a $165 million face-lift. There is a proposal that the Islanders will split home games between there and Barclays Center, and Bettman stuck to his evaluation of the new Coliseum.
“The Nassau Coliseum has been given a nice refresh, in terms of the way it looks,” Bettman said. “But it’s still the Nassau Coliseum.”
The league announced the Devils will play an exhibition game next season in Switzerland, the home country of their No. 1-overall pick, Nico Hischier. They will then open their regular season in Sweden against the Oilers, whose preamble will include an exhibition game in Germany, home of their young star, Leon Draisaitl.
Bettman stuck by his previous stance on the perceived non-connection between concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), citing the conclusions of the International Conference on Sports Concussions, held in Berlin in April.
“It’s not my position, it’s the position of the medical community, and the people — medical and scientific — that advise us,” Bettman said. “I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist. I only know what I’m told.”
There will be a memo sent to NHL officials concerning the rash of confusing calls for goaltender interference.
“Everybody’s over-thinking the review,” Bettman said. “The intention of the review is, ‘Did you miss something?’ Not, ‘Can you search for something?’ ”
There was a bit of a delay in Seattle filing its application for expansion, but Bettman said it’s likely to happen relatively soon.
He also said for their $650 million entry fee — more than the $500 million Las Vegas paid — they will get the same expansion rules that has led the Golden Knights to be the second-best team in the league thus far.
Next year’s All-Star game will be held in San Jose, which most recently hosted the game in 1997.
The Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin won the hardest shot title at the skills competition with a drive of 101.3 mph. Connor McDavid (13.454 seconds) of the Oilers became the first player to be the fastest skater winner in back-to back years. In a new event, Marc-The Golden Knights’ Andre Fleury put together 14 consecutive stops on breakaways to capture the save streak. Brock Boeser of the Canucks was the accuracy shooting winner, shattering one of the LED targets in the process.