Commissioner intends to stick around a while

Gary Bettman has no intention of giving up his post anytime soon.

Reports that the NHL commissioner might be out of a job in the not-too-distant future had Bettman a bit flummoxed, so he spent much of last week shooting down such talk.

He insists he is happy and secure as commissioner of a league that is still working to recover from the devastating lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season.

Bettman said his contract, which runs four seasons after this one, is not an issue.

"My contract has many years to run and for those who are wishing it had a short time to run and that maybe they could help by pushing me out, I do not apologize for the fact that they are wrong," Bettman said last week.

Some owners are upset by the slow start to the league's new television contract with the obscure Versus cable network, but Bettman said those concerns are "two-to-three years premature."

"I don't understand why this has even been an issue or newsworthy other than the fact that people thought that maybe they could stir the pot a little with an erroneous set of facts," Bettman said of talk regarding his ouster. "But they were an erroneous set of facts."

The television contract and other issues will smooth out over time, Bettman insisted.

"Few businesses, let alone sports leagues, have been through what we've been through," Bettman said.