Gary Bettman took to The Hill in Washington, D.C. today, along with fellow NFL, MLB and NBA commissioners, in a hearing held to discuss the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs in professional sports. Bettman testified about the rare documented usage of such performance enhancing drugs in the NHL, the NHL’s drug policy, and shared his rosy view of the overall situation in the NHL.

The following are a couple highlighted quotes thus far from Bettman during the hearing:

“This is not surprising when one considers the alleged benefits of steroid use, significant large muscle development, are not consistent with playing hockey at the highest level of the sport, and the resulting bulkiness attributable to steroid use simply is not the desired characteristic of skilled NHL players.”

“Indeed, while our historical experience indicates that performance-enhancing drugs are not a problem in the NHL, we nevertheless agree that the public at large and our fans in particular are entitled to have confidence that our games are being played in an environment free of performance-enhancing substances.”

The hearing will continue throughout the day. You can stay updated on the latest from the hearing at USA Today’s blog.

Just imagine Zdeno Chara on steroids!!

In the meantime, we have an update to make on our previous Stopping pucks for more bucks… post. We reported that Gary Bettman’s salary was $2 million per year. New data from the Sports Business Journal shows that Gary Bettman made $5.9 million in the year ending on June 30, 2006. So now we can save/earn the NHL another $4+ million per year by giving him a $1 million annual salary, further decreasing the need for advertising on goalie’s jerseys. But geeze, $5.9 million a year for Gary Bettman?!!! Give us a break… this is just another example of executives making off with millions, while the product they offer is turned to junk, and the company eventually runs itself into the ground. There are PLENTY of better qualified candidates out there who would accept a much more reasonable and lower salary to be commish, and would do a WAY better job than Gary Bettman has done.