Gary Bettman became the NHL commissioner in 1992 coming to from the National Basketball Association. His big goal was to break hockey out of the "regional" shackles and make it a North America wide sport. Starting in 1990, the league went from 21 to 30 teams with franchises added or moving in to markets like Anaheim, Ottawa, San Jose, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Denver, Tampa Bay, Columbus and Minnesota. The NHL wanted the expansion money and a better TV deal by trying to appear as a "national" sport. This is odd because the last two TV deals with ABC and NBC have resulted in lower revenues than what the NHL once had with Fox. So it is safe to say that the expansion strategy that would result in higher TV revenues did not work. With respect to the NHL being a "national" sport, recent surveys in the United States put the popularity of the game below that of Arena Football. Needless to say, this is not what the powers that be had in mind.

The expansion was also quite good for the players and the NHLPA. Even as talented hockey players continued to come from Europe, more and more fringe players became regulars on NHL teams. This may have led to a larger than expected inflation of player salaries and definitely led to a less than appealing product on the ice. The league was (and still is) nowhere to be seen when it comes to rule changes or rule enforcement. Whether it be calling the obstruction penalties as they are written in the rulebook, managing the size of goalie equipment, or instituting the use of face shields - the NHL has left some of the more important aspects of the game up for "negotiation".