This week in the NHL was dominated over talk of e-mails sent by NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell that revealed apparent conflicts of interest including judgments made on players including his son Gregory. The e-mails, which were discovered by www.mc79hockey.com 's Tyler Dellow, included Campbell calling for a referee to be fired after a call against his son, and calling Bruins' forward Marc Savard a “little fake artist.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said via NHL.com that he gives Campbell his support and sees no wrongdoing. He said:

"I want to talk about the matter of Colie Campbell and the e-mails and the assertion by some people on the Internet and in the media that some internal e-mails that he wrote three years ago somehow suggest his decisions on supplemental discipline have been in some way biased.
"There are a variety of unfortunate aspects to these assertions, and perhaps the most unfortunate of all is that the people making them have not had the opportunity to observe Colie's professionalism and integrity. He brings that to every one of his many duties with the NHL day in and day out, year after year. He takes his job extremely seriously, and it is a very difficult job. He takes his service to the game, the teams and the players as seriously as any human being can and he is somebody of the utmost integrity, and that's the way people around the League view him."

I know that we owe it to our fans and our fans should expect that there is going to be integrity in our game in everything we do, and we believe we do that. People will disagree with decisions -- reasonable people can always differ, especially when you deal with supplemental discipline. Obviously when you're dealing with supplemental discipline, no two acts are the same, the context is different, the situation's different, the players' histories are different. I've said it repeatedly -- supplemental disciplines are like snowflakes, no two are the same. And to do it, and to do it well, that is administer supplemental discipline, you must know the game, you must know all aspects of the game, you must be able to distinguish between an intentional act and an accident resulting from a hockey play.
"Colie can do that. He has 40 years in this game, he's levied 363 regular-season suspensions, including two today, and people have disagreed with him -- but our clubs have never challenged his integrity or fairness. As a fan, I hope you take comfort in the fact the teams you root for would never accept anything less than fair, unbiased treatment -- in short, integrity. The support for Colie from our clubs, unsolicited, has been overwhelming, and I think everybody can take comfort in that fact because our clubs and the people who are involved in this process intimately and see what's going on and know what's going on and are the recipients of the treatment under this, all believe in Colie and the job that he does. And so he has our full support, as do all the members of our Hockey Operations Department."

Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter

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The NHL knows it's All-Star game is lame. In fact, so lame that they didn't have one last year and nobody noticed or cared. An All-Star game is supposed to be a gem event for any league, so instead of ignoring its lack of popularity, the NHL will try to make changes.

AP writer Ira Podell called the NHL's newest advance to All-Star weekend “hockey's version of a school yard pickup game.” The NHL will switch from East vs. West to a system in which two captains select the rest of the All-Star roster. Fans will vote for the starting six players, but captains will have their choice of the best 36 players. The breakdown will be 12 forwards, six defensemen and three goalies. Each NHL team will still be represented by at least one player in the All-Star game or rookie competitions.

According to the AP report, the NHL never considered putting more emphasis on the All-Star game such as the way Major League Baseball has the outcome determine the home team in the World Series.

Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter

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On Sept. 22, Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that he wanted “to develop a long-term relationship here in Rochester.” Tallon was referring to the relationship between the Panthers and AHL affiliate Rochester Americans. One month later, the Amerks are referring to the Panthers as soon-to-be history.

The Miami Herald reported that the Rochester Americans told the Panthers they will not extend their current agreement past this season. Americans' team president Lewis Staats said, “When we negotiated this agreement with Florida, it was agreed we would put a ‘re-negotiation date’ in it to ensure that both organizations had time to either investigate extending the terms of the agreement or provided sufficient time to explore other options.”

This move comes as no surprise, at least to us at Biz of Hockey. In May, we reported that the Americans could be perusing the New York Rangers for the 2011-12 season.
Staats continued in the Herald story:

"We will explore all the options that are available to us in terms of an NHL parent club going forward at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season when our existing agreement with Florida expires. We are continuing to build and improve the Amerks from a business perspective and will be very diligent in our search for an NHL partner who we believe will help us achieve our goals both on and off the ice.”
As we mentioned in May, the current partner for the New York Rangers, the Hartford Wolfpack, has been one of the lowest attended teams in the AHL. So, despite being owned by MSG, the Rangers could elect to put potential losses on the shoulders of the Americans and use the Wolfpack's arena to book concerts and events.

Hearld writer George Richards suggests the Panthers should move their minor leaguers to the Lake Erie Monsters.

Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter

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The New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets and Atlanta Thrashers have played a total of 16 home games thus far in the 2010-11 season, the four teams all average under 12, 600 fans or filling less than 72 percent of their arenas. On the flip side, the Chicago Blackhawks are among 11 teams averaging at or above 100 percent of their building each night; of 30 teams, 19 are drawing more than 90 percent. The league struggled early last season to draw, but saw second half recovery post-Olympics and Winter Classic. This combined with exciting Stanley Cup play which set high marks for TV ratings, many teams chose to raise ticket prices.

According to The Globe and Mail, prices rose 4.4 percent league wide to $54.25 per ticket. While 11 teams cut prices or kept them stagnant, teams like the Washington Capitals hiked prices 24 percent. The New York Islanders, one of the struggling teams, had the second highest bump at 19.7 percent while Stanley Cup champs Chicago Blackhawks had the third highest price raise at 18 percent.  Numbers come via Team Marketing Report.

Hockey fans weren't the only ones to pay more to catch a game; prices in the NFL are up 4.5 percent and MLB for 2010 were up 1.5 percent.

In conjunction with the ticket price rise, the average cost of taking a family of four is up 4.4 percent. The average Fan Cost Index, which is the cost to purchase four tickets, four hot dogs, park, buy two programs and two team hats, is $313.68 this season. The Blackhawks rose their FCI 20 percent to $350.58, which is $200 less than the league's highest FCI, the Toronto Maple Leafs who charge $572.32.

The Dallas Stars had the lowest price in the NHL at $29.68 and the league's lowest FCI $222.68, while Atlanta Thrashers lowered their prices 10 percent to $43.59.

You can see the data for the whole league, plus TMR Executive Editor Jon Greenberg’s analysis here.

Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter

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