Gary Bettman celebrated his 74th birthday with a question from the media about his future as NHL commissioner.
And while he acknowledged a day would come when he would have to leave his post, Bettman was firm in saying that day was not soon.
"Any major organization, it’s incumbent upon its CEO, which a commissioner is, and its board, to have a succession plan. I am 74 and I do acknowledge the fact that I can’t do this forever," Bettman said ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. "We have been in discussions over the last couple of years, at least, as to what a succession plan might look like. It hasn’t been fully implemented, the executive committee is fully on board, the board has been briefed in terms of the direction we may go.
"But beyond that, there's nothing happening imminently, and reports of my demise or retirement are greatly exaggerated."
Bettman's comment came after Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported earlier on Tuesday that the commissioner has had conversations with members of the NHL's Executive Committee to begin laying the groundwork for his eventual exit from his current role.
Bettman is the first commissioner in NHL history and has been in the chair since 1993. Under his watch, the NHL has expanded eight times to reach 32 franchises and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business. At the same time, his tenure has been mired by labour unrest multiple times, including a lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.
