NHL Hockey thread

[Grey Fox]

I wonder, if Huls wants to buy a team so much, why can't he just come up with the money? Why is he helping the NHL in this?

He's interested because he gets the team for free under this deal.  He's putting very little of his own money in.

Who wouldn't want to own an NHL franchise for no money down?

But what happens when the team loses 50mil & Glendale only gives him 25mil, year after year?

[Barrister]

I wonder, if Huls wants to buy a team so much, why can't he just come up with the money? Why is he helping the NHL in this?

He's interested because he gets the team for free under this deal.  He's putting very little of his own money in.

Who wouldn't want to own an NHL franchise for no money down?

But what happens when the team loses 50mil & Glendale only gives him 25mil, year after year?

Then he can put the team into bankruptcy and walk away.

It's a no-lose scenario for Hulsizer.  But only if he doesn't have any money on the line.  which is why whenever someone dares to suggest to him that he should try actually buying the team with his own money he just laughs.

[Grey Fox]

Ah, NHL.

[Valmy]

The NHL is really showing itself to be a bushleague joke if it starts giving teams away.  Heck give me a  team.  I always wanted to be a sports owner.

[Barrister]

The NHL is really showing itself to be a bushleague joke if it starts giving teams away.  Heck give me a  team.  I always wanted to be a sports owner.

Oh, no no no.  The NHL is not giving the team away.  They will get $170 mil for the Coyotes.

But the people paying the money are the taxpayers of Glendale, NOT the new owner.

[crazy canuck]

It's getting dark on The Pond...Mom's calling for dinner...NEXT GOAL WINS!!!

We would happily trade Lou for Crawford.

[Barrister]

April 26th Jets Meter:

[Barrister]

MAYOR DOUBTS COYOTES WILL RETURN, BUT WILL THE THRASHERS?

4/27/2011 3:19:12 PM

While speculation grows over the possibility of the NHL moving back to Winnipeg, the city's mayor is not convinced that it will be the Phoenix Coyotes returning.

"Do I believe the Coyotes are coming to Winnipeg - my answer would be no," mayor Sam Katz said on Wednesday. "I don't believe that. I believe the Coyotes will stay in Phoenix and they will do everything they can, because I happen to know some of the commitments that were made when they went there. And there were commitments that - if they were not fulfilled - there could easily be a lawsuit. So I think you have to start looking at some of the other potential franchises."

While the NHL, the City of Glendale and Matt Hulsizer's focus remains on keeping the Coyotes in Arizona, the future of the Atlanta Thrashers also hangs in the balance and sources say Atlanta is waiting for the league to determine the fate of the Coyotes.

According to sources, if a deal is made to keep the Coyotes in Glendale, there's a chance the Thrashers will move quickly into negotiations with True North to move the team to Winnipeg. A source close to the situation added that when it comes to relocation, there simply isn't anywhere else to go.

There are also questions as to whether Thrashers ownership and True North could work out an agreement, but the possibility is not being ruled out.

If the NHL is unsuccessful in closing the deal and the Hulsizer sale crumbles, the Coyotes become the likely target for Winnipeg while the league's attention will shift to the Thrashers and an effort to keep the team in Atlanta.

League sources say the negotiations to close the sale in Glendale are ongoing and that no decision has been reached yet, while all involved are hopeful a resolution can be reached no later than next week.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=363831

[Barrister]

Seedy will love this one:

From Dave Shoalts, a Globe and Mail sports reporter:

dshoalts David Shoalts
How long would it take Atlanta Thrashers to replace Coyotes in going to Winnipeg? See Irsay, Robert and Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts.

Suddenly a lot of news reports about Atlanta again...

[Valmy]

Damnit one of those teams better leave.

[Barrister]

Damnit one of those teams better leave.

How do you think I feel. *sigh*

[HVC]

Damnit one of those teams better leave.

to nevada

[Barrister]

Damnit one of those teams better leave.

to nevada

BZZT!  WRONG!

Winnipeg only option for Thrashers saleBy: Gary Lawless

Posted: 04/27/2011 4:45 PM | Comments: 4

Print E–mail  64 16Share80Report Error TORONTO — The whirring sound one can hear coming out of the desert right now is Gary Bettman furiously pumping on a hamster wheel in an effort to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

The cheering in the background? Some of it is from Coyotes fans, but the real loud cowbell and drum-banging stuff, that's from the clubby, leather-and-mahogany set in Atlanta.

Related Items
Articles
NHL's Coyotes likely won't howl in Winnipeg, Katz says Polls
Do you think the Atlanta Thrashers will move to Winnipeg this off season? In between hauls on faux Cubans and long, breathless slurps of 18-year-old single malt, the monied partners of Atlanta Spirit, the group that owns the Thrashers, are watching the action in Arizona very intently.

"They want to sell and they have no options other than Winnipeg," a source close to the transaction told the Free Press. "They want the NHL to solve its issues in Phoenix and sell the team to (Matthew) Hulsizer so they can then sell to the group in Winnipeg.

"The NHL will let them sell. This market has failed once before and these guys have been trying to sell for years and no local group has come forward. They are desperate to sell and the Winnipeg guys are the only ones with money ready to go."

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine said last week he'd like to put together a group to buy the Thrashers, but he himself didn't have the "$80 million to $100 million" required to make a deal.

"If the NHL gives Spirit the green light to sell to Winnipeg, the team will sell in the neighbourhood of $145 million, with the NHL taking its cut off the top for a relocation fee and Spirit receiving somewhere around $100 million," said the source. "That's more than they can expect to get from a group that wants to keep the team here. The team is a financial disaster and no one wants to touch it."

As much as some want an NHL franchise to return to Winnipeg, the owners of the Thrashers want to get rid of one.

Seems like a perfect match, except for those pesky Coyotes and the drama in the desert.

While Bettman does his very best to fix his problem in Arizona with a complicated financing package that would allow Hulsizer to ascend to the throne and take ownership of the Coyotes, the Thrashers must wait.

But the waiting is likely to be soon over. Whispers out of the NHL's New York offices have the clock on the deal in Phoenix about to expire — this week or next. Phoenix is far from over, with any number of hoops, including the Goldwater Institute and its threat of a lawsuit, to jump through.

True North Sports and Entertainment has been working with the NHL for some time on a deal to bring the Coyotes to Winnipeg should the deal in Arizona fall apart.

The league will need to determine where its teams will be located for next season by mid-May at the latest in order to work out a schedule.

Should the league get its desired result in Phoenix, it would have very little time to orchestrate a deal between True North and Atlanta Spirit. But as Bettman pointed out recently in regard to the Coyotes, the league is very cognizant of Plan B scenarios.

Presumably, if True North has most of the paperwork on a relocation transaction completed in terms of the Coyotes, a lot of that legwork could be transferred to a deal regarding the Thrashers.

The details of the deal the league is now trying to put together that would allow Hulsizer to close and keep the team at Glendale's Jobing.com Arena are unknown. Speculation has Hulsizer putting in more real money and the NHL dropping its asking price of $170 million.

There's also talk of a deferred payment schedule, with the league still getting its sticker price, just not right away.

Bettman's owners will not be happy about taking a haircut on the Coyotes, and a hefty relocation fee from a Thrashers sale could go a long way towards easing that pain.

It's been said for a while that the NHL has two troubled franchises and only one automatic solution in Winnipeg.

Lots has changed in this debacle, but one thing has remained constant, and that's True North.

[email protected]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Winnipeg-only-option-for-Thrashers-sale-120815069.html

[Josephus]

Seedy will love this one:

From Dave Shoalts, a Globe and Mail sports reporter:

dshoalts David Shoalts
How long would it take Atlanta Thrashers to replace Coyotes in going to Winnipeg? See Irsay, Robert and Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts.

Suddenly a lot of news reports about Atlanta again...

If that happens, then hopefully the NHL will never give them another team again. This is the second franchise that failed.

[Barrister]

Seedy will love this one:

From Dave Shoalts, a Globe and Mail sports reporter:

dshoalts David Shoalts
How long would it take Atlanta Thrashers to replace Coyotes in going to Winnipeg? See Irsay, Robert and Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts.

Suddenly a lot of news reports about Atlanta again...

If that happens, then hopefully the NHL will never give them another team again. This is the second franchise that failed.

Agreed.

But there's nothing wrong with giving a hockey market a second chance.  After all it worked in Minnesota and Denver... and will work in Winnipeg.

But two failures and you're out.