Gary Bettman Declares War on Putin

Way, way back in 2014, Metallurg Magnitogorsk defeated HC LEV Praha in Game 7 of the Gagarin Cup Finals. The KHL (Континентальная хоккейная лига) was at its strongest point in their history and had come out of the 2014 Sochi Olympics with momentum. The KHL was 28 teams strong with a presence in 8 different countries playing a high level of hockey.

When it comes to competing against the NHL, you could argue that the smallest gap between the KHL and the NHL, strength-wise, was in 2014.

But then Putin occupied Crimea.

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When it comes to sports leagues, America is (mostly) on the top of the food chain.

• NFL - Far and away the best professional football league. Maybe 50 to 100 times more popular than Canada's CFL. Rumors came out this week that the NFL is considering up to 4 international teams and 40 total teams.

• MLB - Until about 2 years ago, no other professional league across the world could measure up to Major League Baseball. But from out of nowhere, the Savannah Bananas have really taken a bite out of MLB's market share....with the under 13 crowd.* Now Banana Ball could become a fad like indoor soccer, or it could challenge MLB in the next decade or so.

Banana Ball: Now a 6-team league that sells out wherever they go.

• NBA - Far and away the best, and most popular, basketball league in the world. Probably 50-100 times more popular than Europe's EuroLeague.

• MLS - Major League Soccer is NOT the most popular soccer league in the world. By most accounts, it is the Premier League, but the general consensus is that the MLS is about the 10th most popular league in the world.

• NHL - The National Hockey League is far and away the best and most popular hockey league in the world. I would argue that the AHL (minor league hockey in America and Canada) would be a distant second. How did the NHL create such distance between itself and the KHL in the last decade? By the KHL's own stupidity.

Back in the summer of 2014, the KHL made it known that Ukraine's HC Donbass would not be welcome back that Fall. As a matter of fact, over the past decade, the KHL has shrunk from 28 to 22 teams and backed off of their international footprint. Today, nearly the entire league resides in Russia.

Editor's Note: Except, absurdly, a Chinese team that "moved" from Beijing to Shanghai, yet plays all their games in St. Petersburg, Russia. (???!!!???)

According to AI: "The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is in a significantly degraded state compared to its peak prominence, suffering from severe geopolitical isolation, contracting membership, and an eroding talent pool. While the league remains financially operational on paper, its original dream of globally rivalling the NHL has completely evaporated."

With the KHL in retreat, I was surprised to read this last week at ESPN: (Boston) Bruins to play in Munich, (Edmonton) Oilers in Cologne in 2027-28.

These are the Global Series games for 2026:

• November 12, 2026: Carolina Hurricanes vs Seattle Kraken in Helsinki, Finland (Veikkaus Arena)

• November 14, 2026: Carolina Hurricanes vs Seattle Kraken in Helsinki, Finland (Veikkaus Arena)

• December 18, 2026: Ottawa Senators vs. Chicago Blackhawks in Düsseldorf, Germany (PSD Bank Dome)

• December 20, 2026: Ottawa Senators vs. Chicago Blackhawks in Düsseldorf, Germany (PSD Bank Dome)

By playing games on the edge of the Eastern Bloc, Gary Bettman is showing that the NHL, not the KHL, owns Europe. He is aggressively marketing his product.

The KHL is run by Vladimir Putin's cronies and his oligarch allies. The KHL isn't a true independent league, it's almost like an old, rusty Soviet-era playground. NHL games in Germany and Finland are like the encroachment of NATO from west to east.

(Not really, but I guarantee you that Putin thinks so.)

Is Putin too occupied with the special military operations in Ukraine, or is he going to somehow retaliate against the NHL?

Now you could argue that Bettman is playing both ends against the middle. While expanding the NHL's reach, they are extending an olive branch toward Russian players. According to Yahoo Sports: "The NHL is charting a careful path back toward including Russian hockey players in international competition, announcing that athletes from Russia will be eligible to participate in a newly formatted 2027 All-Star Game under a "Rest of the World" banner. The move stops well short of welcoming Russia as a nation back into the fold, but it represents the most significant step yet toward reintegrating some of the sport's top talent on a global stage."

Is an NHL expansion team in Europe a possibility? According to the New York Times, just this week, the NHL leaked out that it is looking to expand in 2029-2030 season... in either Houston or Austin, Texas.

The Desert News reports: "(Keith Wachtel, the NHL's President of Business) explained that the objective is to expand hockey as a sport, rather than the NHL as a league. Europe, after all, is already home to some of the best hockey leagues in the world — leagues that comprise a significant feeder system for the NHL."

But the sport of hockey is doing just fine in Western Europe. The NHL is trying to export THEIR brand of the sport. The continuation of the Global Series was a ballsy move considering that Gary Bettman is stepping toe-to-toe to Putin, specifically in an arena that used to house the KHL's Helsingin Jokerit.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have had discussions on what's best for hockey, without Bettman in the room, as late as 2025.

For better or for worse, Gary Bettman continues to dictate what's best for hockey without Trump, Putin, or Mark Carney in the room.

2026 KHL Champions: Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

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I work at an Upper-Middle Class School District in Northeast, Ohio. For 10 years, I have never seen boys wearing anything but football jerseys. The local high school, Ohio State, or the Cleveland Browns, they were all almost like uniforms for the popular, athletic kids. If the Cavs or the Guardians were in the playoffs, I would notice a lot of TEACHERS wearing their gear.

Then, all of a sudden, last year I started to notice kids wearing bright yellow. Boys and girls, athletic and unathletic alike. I've seen more Savannah Banana gear in the past year than I've seen Guardians/Indians jerseys in the last decade.

That is going to become problematic for Major League Baseball.

I have NEVER seen one kid wear an ice hockey jersey to school of any type.

The AHL's Cleveland Monsters Jersey. Available at the Cleveland Cavaliers team shop.

#KHL