Gary Bettman

When you look at the team that Jimmy Rutherford has put together and the players that he has, this is just a great story of excellent in professional sports.

I don't worry about the integrity of the game. Our players are professionals.

NHL clubs don't like having to shut down at a critical part of the season and disrupt our season for anything, let alone a situation where we're not given an opportunity to promote our presence.

Market size, particularly when you're dealing with major media markets, has an impact in terms of gathering attention.

I was always a fan of the game, and I wouldn't have taken this job if I wasn't a fan of the game.

We just want to see entertaining, exciting games, and we want the officials to do a good job.

It's not about big markets or small markets. It's not about dominant teams or not. It's about the actual competition and how good the games are, how good the series turn out. That's what I think is the most important for fans.

Our sport probably has the best history and tradition of being engaged in international competition.

On the issue of behavioral health and the like, the program we have in place has always been available to former players as well.

To be the organization that we want to be, we have to have a place to play.

Doing jersey advertising for the World Cup is not in the same universe as putting advertising on NHL sweaters.

My message to the kids and our fans is hockey's a great game. There's a lot of hockey being played at all levels. Get involved, do it. We will be back and we will be back better than ever and hopefully as soon as possible. Don't give up on the game. It's too good.