“Ultimately, if it makes sense from a league perspective, I’m sure it will happen. But that doesn’t mean that’s any time in the foreseeable future,”

Pardon the expression, but no shit sherlock! The “it” in question happens to be in this case a second team in southern Ontario. However, given the quote from Bill Daly, the “it” may as well have been mars. Seriously, what has Daly said here that is the least bit newsworthy? Oh, I know, that the Toronto Maple Leafs won’t have any say in the matter as it relates to a second team in their backyard. This too is hardly news, as the league has voiced that opinion earlier this summer when they were becoming more and more likely to be the proud new owners of your Phoenix Coyotes.

Daly is a lot of things, and dumb isn’t one of them. The league has taken quite a bit of flack for being “anti-Canadian” over the least couple of months. Jim Balsillie, the guy who didn’t like to attend his own pep-rallies, was very successful in stirring the league vs. Canada pot. No matter how many times Bettman or anyone else from the league said it wasn’t a Canada issue, the Make It Seven guys were sure to hit the hockey is Canada’s game sentiment. You know that Daily and Bettman for that matter knew this would be a topic at the Burke run/sponsored sports event in Toronto. There is no chance that the answer provided by Daily wasn’t thought over a head of time. The reality is, he didn’t say anything.

“If the league ever comes to us and says: ‘Look guys, it’s time,’ and makes the case, then we’ve got to listen,”

Neither did Brian Burke either.Of course there is no reason for the Toronto Maple Leafs to comment until there is an issue. Why get into a pissing match with the league on an issue like this until their is an issue. There is no conflict here. Furthermore, all Burke has said is that if they come to us we will listen. What has Burke committed the Leafs to exactly? Nothing. In order for the statement to be the least likely to be true, it’s starts with the premise that the league actually would come to Burke’s Leafs.

Take a look at the headline in this morning’s STAR:

“Leafs would not oppose second NHL team for T.O.”

Huh?

“The Maple Leafs are not opposed to a second NHL team setting up shop in the Greater Toronto Area.”

REALLY?

That isn’t what Burke said. READ the quote! It says, if they came to us and it made sense we would listen. Nowhere does it say, we would agree, nor does it say we wouldn’t fight it! What a crock of shit. It’s no wonder sports executives may have a hard time with the MSM in this town. Burke’s quote couldn’t be clearer. The interpretation of it in the Star appears to be totally misleading.

Compare to the headline in the Sun:

“Burke: Leafs will never say ‘never’ regarding second team”

EXACTLY!

“The Maple Leafs aren’t warm to the idea of a second team in their yard, but that doesn’t mean they and the NHL can’t see the day coming. ”

That certainly seems to be case of responsible journalism to me, at least as compared to the Star.

There is one refreshing part of this story which will be the MAJOR topic of conversation for the next couple of days I am sure by the MSM, and that is that at least for right now, Brian Burke appears to be the Toronto Maple Leafs spokesman, replacing Richard Peddie. Granted I am not in Toronto at this time, I am not seeing one quote or comment by the man who loves the mic. All the focus from the Leafs is shining where it should shine and that is on Brian Burke. That is a very nice change.

“It remains our intention to get Wayne paid because he’s owed some money,” he told Tony Ambrogio of Sportsnet. “He has about US$8- or US$9-million that he’s earned in deferred money. That will be the first chunk we want him to get paid for.”

More shocking revelations from Bettman’s right hand man. Seems pretty simple to me, the greatest ambassador the game has ever had is due a large chunk of cash by the team currently owned by the league and the league says it intends on paying him what it owes him. What it most likely means is how can we get #99 to continue to be our ambassador given what we have put him through over the last couple of months. The reality is, given that the team was put through the bankruptcy process I am not entirely sure that the NHL can just write a check to Gretzky in that he was a creditor. In any event, the guy fulfilled his end of the bargain and he should get paid. I have to assume that when Daly is referring to “chunks” he is referring to the fact that Gretzky is owed $8-9m for work he has already completed- the deferred money, and was due other monies for work to be done prior to him quitting his coaching gig. The issue on the second chunk would be determined on the language in 99’s coaching contract and whether or not Gretzky’s legal team would try to suggest that Gretzky was essentially fired (in legal terms) and had no choice but to quit. I can’t imagine the league wanting to go down the litigation route with Gretzky.

So, all in all another non-story to engulf our sports lives. The truth of the matter is not much was said here. Nothing new, nothing shocking and no nothing appears to be imminent.

The one interesting NHL news piece today was that Donald Fehr of MLB fame has agreed to assist the NHLPA in it’s search for a new leader to be added to the payroll and to evaluate their current constitution. I think that I am most likely alone on this one, but I think that getting someone of Fehr’s ilk involved in the NHLPA is probably a good thing for the game. The players are going to have a voice so it may as well be be based upon a foundation that makes some sense. Fehr served his constituents very well at MLBPA, under his guidance the players were able to ride out numerous storms and the problems that many of us see in MLB these days are the doing of their commissioner. Besides, how long can it be until Chelios or someone else starts stabbing this guy in the back at 4am? I mean come on, it’s the NHLPA

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

quotes came from here, here and here

Who ever would have guessed that email would play such a pivotal role in the history of the National Hockey League. First it was undoing of Ted Saskin. Now, we are seeing Gary Bettman’s emails to Bill Daily that completely contradict everything they both have said publicly. This from the Globe and Mail:

“I told [Scudder] that at some point, if we don’t have an alternative, I will have to start looking at the moving option,” Bettman wrote in the e-mail which was filed in court. When Scudder asked specfically about Southern Ontario and Hamilton, Bettman said “I responded that it’s a league opportunity, the building is too old etc. and, frankly, if this team had to move it should first be offered to Winnipeg.” In the e-mail, Bettman also talked about the difficulties in finding buyers for the Coyotes. He cited a couple of potential bidders and added “but this is looking more and more difficult since no one seems to be excited about a team losing 40mm (million).”

Does that sound ANYTHING like what Bettman inc. said publicly about the state of the Coyotes????

Globe article is here

Didn’t think so.

This just hit my email inbox:

“Last week, the NHL filed a motion with the bankruptcy court in Phoenix which argued, in part, that scheduling issues made it impossible to fulfill the main condition of my offer to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, that is to bring the team to Hamilton and to begin NHL-scheduled play this fall.

I say to all Canadians, but in particular to the many Hamilton and Southern Ontario supporters of our bid: my commitment to bringing an NHL team to Hamilton remains. It’s my firm commitment to Hamilton hockey fans. It’s the best un-served hockey market in the world and it deserves an NHL team.

If bringing an NHL team to Hamilton means needing to remove a scheduling impediment to my bid to purchase the Coyotes franchise, I am willing to do what is necessary to assist the NHL in order to get us to our ultimate goal. That is why I have indicated to the bankruptcy court, in reply to the NHL’s argument, that if beginning NHL play in Hamilton this fall truly creates a scheduling impediment, I am willing to remove that impediment and leave the team in Phoenix for one additional season.

I know you share with me our end goal here – to bring a seventh NHL franchise to Canada, and specifically to Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. I appreciate that support. We’re focused on making that happen, and making it seven. So stay tuned and I will keep you up to date with the latest developments.”

So there you have it. I don’t necessarily think it will mean anything, however it is a good idea on the part of Balsillie to make this move so the court can’t accept the NHL’s ‘we can’t move this fast argument.’ The National Post has a very good editorial today on why Balsillie is facing a nearly un-winnable war here with Bettman:

“Bankruptcy law, corporate law, franchise law, anti-trust law, sports law — the Phoenix Coyotes tangle is deep in a messy swamp. FP Comment’s legal budget has been drastically cut back, making it difficult to put together an air-tight opinion on the validity of Mr. Balsillie’s bid or the likelihood he will succeed in his battle with the NHL and its commissioner, Gary Bettman. From what has been filed so far, however, and based on the nature of sports franchise operations, especially the NHL, Mr. Moyes and Mr. Balsillie will have trouble pulling this off. First off is the fact that Mr. Moyes, facing more calls on his money to keep funding the Coyotes last year, appears to have virtually given up his 91.8% ownership of the team. On Nov. 14, 2008, Mr. Moyes signed an “irrevocable proxy” in which he granted the NHL the rights to the club. It begins: This irrevocable proxy … is granted by the underesigned to the Commissioner of the National Hockey League in respect of its 91.79% ownership interest in Coyotes Hockey, LLC, which is the owner of the Phoenix Coyotes NHL franchise, to provide for the continued management, operation, ownership and financing of the Club and its affiliates in order, among other things, to preserve and protect the interests of the NHL and its member clubs. The proxy agreement would seem to leave no avenue of escape for Mr. Moyes. It continues: The undersigned hereby irrevocably appoints, with immediate effect, the Commissioner of the NHL as its true and lawful attorney and proxy in respect of all of the undersigned’s interest and rights in the club, including without limitation a 91.79% ownership interest in, and all rights as managing member of, the Club (collectively referred herein as the “Coyotes Interests”; the term Coyotes Interests shall be deemed to include, without limitation, all of the limited liability company interests, shares, membership interests or units issued by the club… Since Mr. Moyes signed that agreement last November, the NHL has been paying for the Coyotes’ operation, running up millions in expenses. Since the NHL is picking up expenses at a company over which he gave up all control, it’s hard to see how Mr. Moyes could assume he had the authority to put the Coyotes into bankruptcy so as to facilitate Mr. Balsillie’s takeover offer. A bankruptcy judge will rule on this and other matters next week. The NHL also has what looks to be rock-solid franchise claims over the future of the Coyotes. No sports league can hold together if individual owners can unilaterally move their franchise to what might be a more profitable location. If they could, the owners of the Ottawa Senators might rather be in Hamilton than Ottawa. Why can’t they get first dibs? An odd but revealing bit about Mr. Moyes’s business strategy appeared yesterday in The Arizona Republic. In a letter to the editor, he said he expects to be down $200-million on his investment in the Coyotes, which had been seen as a big draw in the Glendale area, part of a complex development strategy involving the team, the arena and a giant mall, Westgate Center. “Unfortunately,” Mr. Moyes writes, “the arena leases and agreements were constructed so that, in some ways, they subsidized the development of Westgate.” Somehow, he says, that economics made sense when all three enterprises were combined, but not after the team became a separate entity. Few people around professional sports expect to use a team to subsidize something else. For his part, Mr. Balsillie seems to be covering all his corners. In response to the NHL on Thursday, he distanced himself from the ownership issue. “I made a generous good faith offer to by the Coyotes from Jerry Moyes, who I understand is the owner of the Coyotes” (emphasis added). Remarkably, he also added: “Who owns or controls the team is a distinction without a difference.” Tell that to the lawyers.”

The legal hurdles facing makeitseven.ca are not small. There is little chance the judge will decide anything on the 19th. If he does it won’t be good for Balsillie. Should he rule that Moyes was able to put the team in bankruptcy that will be a victory for Balsillie. It will be the first of many he will have to win. Insurmountable? No. However the odds are somewhere between slim and none.

TSM

UPDATE:

Just saw this in a good article:

“Not so fast.

Balsillie’s offer was made on condition the relocation of the team gets approved and that the NHL would pick up all the losses, which may have amounted to $45 million this season.

Well, the NHL’s never going to accept that. The other 29 teams would never countenance such a deal. And Balsillie knows it.”

Oddly enough, the email from Balsillie didn’t include this pre-condition in his email