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Commissioner Gary Bettman Named Most Important Person In NHL; NHLPA's Fehr Third

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman tops USA Today's list of the 50 most important people in the NHL, as he is the "dean of commissioners in the four major pro sports," according to Kevin Allen of USA TODAY. While fans "boo him because he is associated with lockouts and a lost season, he has the full support of owners after shepherding in financial stability and growth, competitive balance, a salary cap, a network television package, innovations such as the Winter Classic, the environmental friendly 'NHL Green' initiative and centralized video review." NHLPA Exec Dir Don Fehr ranks third on the list, just behind Penguins C Sidney Crosby. Fehr has proved to be a "noteworthy peacetime general in the hockey world." He was able to reach a World Cup deal with the NHL that was "profitable for the league and the players." He also "negotiated a 'bye week' for players to be introduced this season in exchange for players' cooperation in altering the NHL All-Star format" (USA TODAY, 10/11).

                                             NHL's 20 MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE
RANK TITLE
1 NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
2 Penguins C Sidney Crosby
3 NHLPA Exec Dir Don Fehr
4 NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly
5 Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin
6 Oilers C Connor McDavid
7 NHL Senior VP/Player Safety Stephane Quintal
T9 Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs
T9 Las Vegas NHL Owner Bill Foley
10 Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock 
11 NHL Exec VP/Hockey Operations Colin Campbell 
12 Hockey HOFer Wayne Gretzky 
13 Lightning VP & GM Steve Yzerman
14 Blackhawks Owner Rocky Wirtz
15 NBC Sports Exec Producer Sam Flood
16 Coyotes GM John Chayka
17 NBC hockey announcer Mike Emrick 
18 Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville
19 MLB President of Business & Media Bob Bowman
20 Red Wings Exec VP & GM Ken Holland

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NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

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On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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