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Devellano: Don’t blame Bettman, he’s just the messenger

Jim Devellano

Jim Devellano thinks Gary Bettman gets a raw deal from fans and media.

Devellano, the Red Wings’ senior vice president and alternate governor, said as much (and much, much more) in an exclusive and extensive interview with Island Sports News.

According to Devellano, the commissioner is only doing what the owners direct him to do and doesn’t deserve to be everyone’s favorite whipping boy.

“Don’t forget too that these owners aren’t dumb guys and they are very aggressive men who run multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies,” he said. “They want results and don’t want to hear excuses and complaints as to what their employees may want.”

Devellano also believes the Flyers broke an unwritten rule by presenting an offer sheet to Shea Weber and forcing the small-market Predators to either match a massively front-loaded deal or watch their captain walk away.

But we won’t steal all the good parts of the interview. Go read it yourself.

PS -- He also calls the players “cattle” and the owners “ranchers.”