Bettman_ORee

The Hockey Hall of Fame is set to welcome six new members Monday; four players (Martin Brodeur, Martin St. Louis, Alexander Yakushev and Jayna Hefford) and two others as Builders (NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Willie O'Ree, the first black player in League history and now the NHL's Diversity Ambassador).

Here's a numerical look at the two Builders:

Gary Bettman

Bettman, in his 26th year as the NHL's first commissioner, will become the only active commissioner from any of the four major North American professional leagues to be inducted into his sport's Hall of Fame. His tenure as the NHL's top executive is the second-longest in League history behind Clarence Campbell's 31 years as president. It's also the longest time in office for any active commissioner of a major North American sports league.
Under Commissioner Bettman, the NHL has grown from 24 to 31 teams, yielding an increase in the number of players from 787 in 1992-93 to 985 in 2017-18. The NHL has also grown from zero to 158.5 million followers across a range of social media platforms and accounts, zero to 31 regular-season games staged outside of North America and zero to 27 outdoor games by the end of this season.
Nearly 4,300 players born in 39 countries have played at least one NHL game since Commissioner Bettman took office on Feb. 1, 1993. The NHL's demographics also have changed during his tenure, going from eight percent of players born outside North America before he took office to 26 percent today. Since Commissioner Bettman's first day, 23 U.S. states have had at least five players skate in the League compared with 11 prior to his tenure.

bettman media wall 1108

NHL revenue has grown from $400 million in 1992-93 to $4.5 billion in 2017-18. Total regular-season attendance has increased by 55 percent, from 14,158,177 in Commissioner Bettman's first season to an NHL-record 22,174,362 last season.
The NHL under Commissioner Bettman has played more than 30,000 games in 71 cities in eight countries, with two cities added to the list this season through the NHL Global Series in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic in South Bend, Indiana. Including preseason games, NHL players have taken the ice in more than 120 cities since Commissioner Bettman's tenure began, started, most recently via the NHL China Games and Kraft Hockeyville.
Commissioner Bettman has greeted 757 first-round selections at the NHL Draft and presented the Stanley Cup to 15 different captains. He has passed the trophy to the same captain in consecutive years twice, to Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings (1997, 1998) and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016, 2017).
The competitive balance during Commissioner Bettman's tenure has led to 14 different clubs winning the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's regular-season champion, as well as record playoff turnover of seven teams in each of the past two seasons and three of the past four. Overall, there has been playoff turnover of at least five clubs in 11 of the past 13 seasons.

Willie O'Ree

Despite losing sight in his right eye playing junior hockey in Kitchener in 1956, O'Ree made his NHL debut within two years of that incident - on Jan. 18, 1958, with the Boston Bruins at the Montreal Canadiens. He played 45 NHL games, scoring his first NHL goal on Jan. 1, 1961 and finishing with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists).
O'Ree had more than 450 goals and 450 assists in a professional career that encompassed more than 1,100 games.
At age 82, O'Ree celebrated 20 years as NHL Diversity Ambassador in 2018, and also marked the 60th anniversary of his first NHL game. In conjunction with these milestones, O'Ree was on hand at the 2018 NHL Awards in Las Vegas to present the first Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award, won posthumously by coach Darcy Haugan of the Humboldt Broncos.

Bettman, O'Ree at Museum of African American History

O'Ree's accolades include the Lester Patrick Trophy (2003) and the Order of Canada (2008). He has a rink named after him in his hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he is a member of that province's Hall of Fame, and in Boston.
Since 1998, O'Ree has built and supported more than 30 non-profit youth hockey programs throughout North America, giving more than 120,000 boys and girls from disadvantaged and marginalized populations the opportunity to play hockey. As part of that commitment, O'Ree has made more than 500 visits to schools, community centers and rinks, traveled nearly 2,500 days and been the subject of more than 13,000 books, articles and shows.