Gary Bettman officially notifies NHL that he will retire

Ladies and gentlemen, the day that we've all waited for has finally come. Well, maybe not exactly yet, but the day is coming.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has reportedly informed the NHL's Board of Governor's his plans for retirement and will walk away from the sport "in a couple years."

NHL insiders Chris Johnston of TSN and Michael Russo of The Athletic reported today that Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold the news of Bettman's retirement slip on a podcast recently.

From The Athletic today:

The executive committee of the NHL’s Board of Governors has begun planning for Gary Bettman’s retirement in “a couple years” and has started the process of finding a successor for the longest-tenured commissioner in North American sports, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold said on a podcast Wednesday and clarified with greater detail during a phone call with The Athletic on Thursday.

Leipold said it would be a sad day when Bettman, commissioner for nearly 32 years, was not part of the league, “but that’s a couple years down the road and we’re doing the planning now, and we have to make sure we get it right when he leaves.”

“Now we’re going to transition to somebody else, and that should make us all a little concerned that we have to be certain we get the right person. It’s a concern that I have that, ‘How are we going to get anybody as good as Gary?’ The answer is we’re not. So who’s going to be the second best person, and is that going to be good enough?”

Asked if the executive committee had begun the formal process of finding Bettman’s successor, Leipold said: “I would say that we have.”

Leipold didn’t realize, however, that Bettman had not formally announced his plans to retire.

Bettman has been the NHL's top executive since 1993 and has grown the league from 24 to 32 teams with an aggressive expansion into non-traditional American markets. He has grown the league into a $7 billion per year business with franchise valuations that exceed multi-billions per team.

It remains to be seen exactly what happens with Bettman, but it's clear that the league has begun the process of seeking its next leader.