Gary Bettman Talks Fighting Before GM Meetings

“I think the level of dialogue gets sparked by an occasional incident, and an incident of this nature when you look at everything else that is going on in the season was really a small pebble relative to a beach full of sand, which is seeing an incredibly entertaining season,” Bettman said Monday. “I think sometimes an incident, as rare as it might be, tends to get focused on disproportionately.”

During his remarks at the Prime Time Sports Management conference in Toronto, Bettman called fighting a “thermostat” in hockey that helps cool things down when tensions run high.

“When Vinny Lecavalier was in a fight with [Jarome] Iginla … they got mad at each other,” he said during his question-and-answer session. “I’d rather them be punching each other than swinging sticks at each other.”