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Versteeg thinks “cancers” Bettman, Daly should be gone once a new CBA is reached

Kris Versteeg

Once a new CBA is reached between the NHL and NHLPA, Panthers forward Kris Versteeg believes commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly should become former commissioner and deputy commissioner.

“You’ve got to cut out the cancers,” Versteeg told TSN 1050 (Toronto) on Monday, “and I think when you look at Bill Daly and Bettman, they’ve been polluting this game for far too long.”

Versteeg, 26, says Daly and Bettman need to go for the sake of the fans, who have “been left with too many bad tastes in their mouths for too many years, and I think when this is all said and done, it’ll be a good time to finally make that happen.”

Versteeg’s comments come just days after Red Wings defenseman Ian White called Bettman “an idiot” that’s “done nothing but damage the game.”

On Sunday, Bettman addressed White’s remarks in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press.

“You’ll find in the course of labor disputes, there’s always a lot of rhetoric,” said Bettman. “Most of it is just noise. Most of it is misinformed. There’s propaganda. It’s just a fact of life that you live with.

“By the way, I love the players. Nobody should think for a moment that I don’t. If I didn’t I wouldn’t do this job. I couldn’t do this job. I believe in the players. I don’t believe in what’s going on right now. It’s part of the business of the game. The least attractive part of the game.”

Unfortunately for the commissioner, his love of the players appears to be unrequited.

Related: Bettman defends NHL’s first offer