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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been accused of circumventing the league's customary background check on beleaguered William (Boots) Del Biaggio when he purchased a minority stake in the Nashville Predators last fall.

The NHL denies the claim.

According to a report in the Tennessean newspaper, California-based Canadian entrepreneur Doug Bergeron said Del Biaggio boasted that his financial statements never underwent the due diligence process that prospective NHL owners face.

Bergeron, who was being lured as a potential investor in the Predators, suggested the NHL possibly could have avoided the embarrassing situation it finds itself in if it had done the proper financial background check on Del Biaggio.

Del Biaggio is under bankruptcy protection, faces fraud lawsuits from several lenders and is under investigation by the FBI.

"This whole drama was eminently avoidable," Bergeron told the Tennessean.

"Boots bragged to me that he was able to convince Bettman's office to overlook the need for his audited financial statements because it was too much work."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Del Biaggio was subjected to the same scrutiny as other prospective owners have undergone in the past.

"I can't comment on what Mr. Del Biaggio may have told Mr. Bergeron, but as a factual matter the claim is untrue," Daly said. "Mr. Del Biaggio's application was subject to the same standard of scrutiny that other owners receive."

In the league-directed audit, prospective NHL owners usually have to disclose financial statements and records, tax returns as well as other business arrangements and investments that exhibit the individual's worth.

Daly confirmed that Bergeron and Del Biaggio met with Bettman last October. Del Biaggio reportedly was hoping to add Bergeron to his Forecheck investor group, which also included California investment banker Warren Woo, and was about to become a minority owner in the Predators.

One of Del Biaggio's selling points to Bergeron was that his deal with seven local Predators owners, which was reportedly brokered by Bettman, included the rights to possibly take over the team and move it if the franchise didn't meet certain revenue and attendance goals after the 2009-10 season.

"Yes, the commissioner met with Mr. Bergeron," Daly said. "The meeting was with regard to Mr. Bergeron's interest in potentially making a financial investment in the Nashville Predators."

Despite the messy developments with Del Biaggio, Bettman still appears to have the support of the league's governors.

"Only in Toronto would this story make headlines and go on and on," one governor said. "Maybe the league didn't scrutinize Del Biaggio like others and maybe it did. The thing is this guy was a minority owner with the San Jose Sharks for some time and nobody complained about him.

"He fooled plenty of people. Gary Bettman isn't the only one — even two of our owners. [Former Predators owner and current Minnesota Wild owner] Craig Leipold agreed to fund $10-million for Del Biaggio's purchase price in the Predators and at the same time the Anschutz Corporation [which owns the Los Angeles Kings] decided to loan Boots $7-million. They didn't have to tell the commissioner, but they should have because it involved the sale of another NHL franchise," he said.

"This is an unfortunate matter. The truth is Gary Bettman has tremendous support among the owners and will probably, by the time he's done, he'll be the commissioner of our league for 30 years. I don't hear concerns from the other owners. He was hired to grow the game in the United States and give us cost certainty," the governor said.

"Rightly or wrongly, the league has grown from 21 to 30 teams and the lockout has given us cost certainty.

"I know the doomsday people in Toronto like to point out the fact that under his watch they lost franchises in Quebec City and Winnipeg. The truth is, though, that when the owners of these two teams put their franchises up for sale, no Canadian owners stepped up, and even the great Montreal Canadiens were purchased by an American owner."