Posted on 05/06/2009 5:18:21 AM PDT by Loyalist
Next to watching Crosby and Ovechkin go at it in game 3, the best fun in the NHL will be tracking how Gary Bettman tries to worm out of letting Jim Balsillie buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to southern Ontario.
Balsillie has offered far more than the team is worth -- US$212.5 million for a team that filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday after losing US$90 million over three years. The Coyotes have had 12 seasons to make a go of it in Phoenix yet still have one of the lowest attendance records and skimpiest payrolls of the 30 NHL teams. The league has been paying their bills and carrying the payroll, and Balsillie has already provided US$17 million to keep the team going through the bankruptcy proceedings.
....
If no U.S. buyers turn up, he's got a rich Canadian offering a princely amount for an unprincely team, and a ready-made market of seven million eager hockey fans who could make the team a financial winner on Day One. Bettman's going to say no? He's going to keep carrying the team on the NHL's nickel, just because Balsillie bugs him?
Should be fun to watch. Just to up the ante, Balsillie should offer to give 10% of the Coyotes to Gretzky (who coaches the team), locate the team in his home town of Brantford -- driving distance from Hamilton, Kitchener, Waterloo and west-end Toronto -- and name the arena after Walter. Then watch Bettman squirm.
(Excerpt) Read more at network.nationalpost.com ...
I lived in Brantford for a year. Think of Flint, Michigan, with none of the charm and a lot more Mohawks.
That would put the Leafs, Sabers and this team in the same metro area. Can three teams be supported there?
It's just not the same thing playing the Florida Panthers, where you know most of the folks in the stands would be there just the same if Icecapades was going on.
I was in “downtown” Brantford a couple of years ago and I was shocked. There is no worse downtown in all of Ontario. Level the whole thing and build a new arena.
At this point the NHL can’t do much worse. Hardly anyone watches hockey.
I followed hockey when there were only the Original Six. The skating, and play-making were a lot better than. I miss the days when you could actually see the players faces. Here’s some suggestions to get hockey out of its ‘cult’ stature.
Lenghten and widen the playing area. The players are much bigger yet the dimensions are the same. This would be similar to the lowering of the mound in baseball.
Limit the amount of padding these players can wear...these guys have more protective gear than football players. A lot of these hard hits are done only because the players are over-padded. Less padding will mean more focus on speed, skill and skating.
Fighting ONLY when both players have taken off their head gear. Remember John Ferguson, Gordie Howe? Experiment with playing w/out the red line.
Put a cap on the number of European players. The NHL needs more of the old school Canadian/en hockey players.In today’s NHL guys like Henri Richard, Dave Keon, Rod Gilbert would be swallowed up the these 6’6 plodding giants.
OR
have some guy start a new league w/wt. and ht. limits...focus on old style hockey...
I am also old school. However in saying that I really enjoy the speed game without the 2 line pass rule. I have a personal interest in the Coyotes as their AHL club the San Antonio Rampage are my nightly entertainment during hockey season.
Regardless of what happens to the Coyotes, I would hope that whoever takes the team and wherever they move, San Antonio stays in place. They are starting to get between 6-8 thousand fans a game and on some nights they get 9 thousand.
I don’t know about that. In some towns, hockey tickets are damn hard to get -— and expensive too.
Yeah, old time hockey, like Eddie Shore!
>>Yeah, old time hockey, like Eddie Shore!<<
Jeff Hanson: Eddie Shore?
McGrath: P*ss on Eddie Shore.
Steve Hanson: Old-time hockey?
McGrath: P*ss on old-time hockey!
Top five in funny movies!
It will be sad to see the Coyotes leave Phoenix. Dang.
No way. That's international hockey. Do you want to have NHL stand for No Hit League? No thanks.
Not true. TV ratings were way up this year, despite pathetic US national coverage. And here in Columbus, with 10% unemployment, the Blue Jackets arena capacity this season was close to 90%.
I wonder. That's the equivalent of putting the NFL or MLB in Columbus, exactly halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati.
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