We haven’t heard a lot of direct sniping at NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman from any of the players in a while. Capitals forward Jason Chimera made sure to change that when he opened up to CSNWashington.com’s Chuck Gormley.
In a frustrated rant about how poorly CBA negotiations have gone, Chimera wondered aloud about what Bettman’s end-game is here.
“He seems to be bent on ruining the game. If that’s what he’s out to do he’s sure doing a good job of it,” Chimera said. “It’s disappointing. We’re willing to get a deal done and try to sit down and talk with no pre-conditions and they don’t want to talk... We want to sit down and they don’t want to meet at this point.”
On top of all that, Chimera believes the league is out to bury Donald Fehr.
“For whatever reason, they’re bent on making Don Fehr the big enemy. I don’t know if that’s Gary Bettman’s doing. I don’t know if he feels intimidated that he’s kind of met his match maybe because [Fehr] is as smart a guy as he is.
“I don’t know if he’s just [ticked] off and he has a personal vendetta against him. If you have a personal vendetta you’re ruining a lot of people’s lives and not just us.”
This kind of talk at this point in the process does nothing but distract from reaching the finish line. That said, with the players overwhelmingly supporting a move to disclaim interest, the end game is upon us one way or another. Some might call it, “put up or shut up” time.