It's time to give Gary Bettman some credit. Yes, seriously

Here's an uncomfortable truth: Gary Bettman deserves some credit.

I know, I know. I don't like saying it any more than you like hearing it. Disliking the NHL commissioner is right up there with politeness, free health care, and allegiance to a mediocre coffee chain as a staple of Canadian identity.

We've disapproved of the guy for so long and so consistently that even Americans got on board, booing him at every turn even though he keeps giving them more teams.

But the commissioner everyone loves to hate did something unequivocally good for hockey fans: He pushed through a new collective bargaining agreement with the players that runs until 2029-30. The deal with the NHLPA was completed more than a year before the current CBA expires. And it positions the NHL for at least 17 years of labor peace - a significant shift under a commissioner who once canceled an entire season and lost half of another one due to a work stoppage.

So, yes, give Bettman his flowers.

The NHL's labor peace looks good relative to some of Bettman's peers too. The NBA under commissioner Adam Silver has often been perceived as more enlightened than the NHL, but its most recent CBA now appears to have been a wild overreach. The introduction of punitive salary aprons hasn't just prevented big-market teams from hoarding stars, as intended, but it's also made it nearly impossible for championship teams like the Nuggets and Celtics to retain homegrown talent. Making it easier for teams to keep their own players was supposed to be the whole idea.

Over in Major League Baseball, there are fears of a protracted work stoppage due to suspicions that commissioner Rob Manfred (on behalf of team owners) wants to bring in a salary cap once the current CBA expires next year. Baseball has the widest payroll disparities of the major North American leagues, and Manfred has overseen a system in which some small-budget teams take millions of dollars in revenue-sharing from big spenders and simply sock it away rather than invest in a competitive roster. It's a mess.

Against all that, the NHL's labor situation looks positively rosy.

Now, does Bettman deserve all the credit? Of course not. The NHLPA's willingness to reach a deal without much fuss while largely leaving the existing system intact suggests the players are happy enough, especially with the salary cap expected to rise significantly in coming seasons after years of staying flat or barely increasing.

Still, Bettman and the owners could have put the screws to the players. They could have claimed some sort of financial hardship, locked the players out before the 2026-27 season, and squeezed them for a better deal. Even if the particulars of the eventual CBA hadn't changed much, teams often save a pile of cash during a lockout just by not having to pay players. Sure, it would have been shamelessly cynical, but they've done that kind of thing before. While not having a work stoppage is a low bar, at least Bettman cleared it this time.

Lest anyone think things are all sunshine and rainbows, plenty of reasons remain to criticize the NHL commissioner. The success of the relocated Utah Mammoth only underscores how bizarre it was for Bettman to stick by Phoenix through all those years of bad ownership and poor attendance. Similarly, the thrills of the 4 Nations Face-Off offered a stark reminder of what was lost by pulling NHL players out of the last two Olympic Games. The NHL playoff format, with Bettman's stubborn insistence on first-round division matchups, feels more stale every year. Edmonton versus Los Angeles in Round 1? You don't say.

And if the league does follow through on its rumored expansion plans, adding more games and some kind of additional playoff element to a schedule that is already packed and seemingly endless, then the time for plaudits will definitely be over. (As part of the new CBA, the NHL is already reportedly expected to move to an 84-game regular-season schedule in 2026-27.) It is of course entirely possible that the owners wanted to complete this agreement relatively quickly and quietly just so that they could begin the process of seeking lucrative expansion fees that they, crucially, don't have to share with players.

But that's a complaint for another day. Instead of an upcoming NHL season that would be dominated by talk about CBA negotiations and the possibility of a strike or lockout, everyone will be able to talk about normal hockey stuff when training camps open in the fall - like whether Connor McDavid will leave the Oilers and how many more wins the Canadiens will rack up than the Maple Leafs.

The NHL will roll on, in other words. For that, Bettman deserves some appreciation. But let's draw the line there.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.