NHL Hockey thread

[Jaron]

San Jose beat the Kings but I didn't like that it had to go to OT. The Sharks should be stomping them.

[Neil]

San Jose beat the Kings but I didn't like that it had to go to OT. The Sharks should be stomping them.

The Kings are resilient, but the Sharks are talented.

Besides, OT in the playoffs is the best time of the year.

[PRC]

Here are my first round picks:

Montreal vs Boston in 4

Our first fail.



How good do you think Claude Julien will be sleeping tonight? Your job is on the line buddy. Hopefuly the Habs threw them into a mindfuck for saturday.

Mea Culpa...

Julien's job is on the line, so is Boudreaus and probably Vigneaults as well.

[PRC]

Again the Canucks with the win but those Blackhawks don't make life easy for them, that was a stressful third period.

[Barrister]

Good summary of current events, and a few nice turns of phrase.   

Midas touch unnecessary for Winnipeg to get Coyotes
STEPHEN BRUNT | Columnist profile | E-mail
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Apr. 15, 2011 8:54PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Apr. 15, 2011 9:24PM EDT

Oh there is smoke, great billowing plumes of smoke, and yes, that probably means what it usually does.

Either they've found a new pope, or something's burning out there.

A couple of the fellows at Sportsnet reporting that multiple National Hockey League sources say the Phoenix Coyotes are likely bound for Winnipeg next season. Senator John McCain and Wayne Gretzky, both speaking publicly, both with a rooting interest in a different outcome, and both sounding extremely pessimistic about the franchise's future in Arizona.

American Hockey League president Dave Andrews acknowledging that there have been discussions about relocating the Manitoba Moose. The Winnipeg Free Press reporting that a season's ticket drive is imminent, which if successful would cement a deal for the Coyotes. And the Hockey News laying out the terms under which Mark Chipman and company have agreed to purchase the franchise from the NHL, once the Glendale bond issue is officially declared dead.

All of that news breaking over the course of 48 hours strongly suggests that the Coyotes' final playoff game this spring will be their final game, period, based in the Valley of the Sun.

And yes, one might well say we've heard that before over the course of the past couple of years, except that there is one crucial difference this time around.

Some of those stories seem to be coming straight out of Manitoba, where until now the potential new owners of the Coyotes have been moving on little cat feet, making damned sure that they don't make any noise or generate any headlines.

Wouldn't want to upset the powers at the NHL head office. Wouldn't want to appear too eager, and give them an excuse to look elsewhere.

Of course, truth is, there is no elsewhere.

But you can't blame them for being extra careful, even though it's a myth that speaking and acting out of turn was what cost Jim Balsillie an NHL team. Balsillie was rebuffed not because he did things like selling season's tickets in Hamilton without commissioner Gary Bettman's permission. He was blocked because he wanted to relocate a franchise within territory guaranteed to the Toronto Maple Leafs (and Buffalo Sabres) under the NHL constitution. (Anyone who doubts that need only to listen to Brian Burke this week when he was asked about the possibility of a second Toronto team: he sounded rather certain that it was the Leafs' decision to make.)

Now, though, there are leaks springing everywhere, which is exactly what figured to happen when a possibility morphed into an inevitability. Though Winnipeg is certainly not the preferred option of Bettman and the league's owners, all signs point to them finally moving on, acknowledging defeat, bidding adieu to Matthew Hulsizer and the Glendale municipal government, eating some crow, and heading back whence they came in those heady days when the NHL was outgrowing little Canadian markets.

It certainly won't be spun that way, especially since there's an easy scapegoat now in the Goldwater Institute, as though those pesky libertarians were the disease, rather than a symptom.

Just to avoid confusion: the Coyotes won't be leaving because someone threatened to sue over a municipal bond issue which may or may not be legal under Arizona law. They will be leaving because of the single unassailable truth that has been lurking behind this entire exercise – there is no one on earth prepared to invest their own money to keep the team where it is because to do so would mean absorbing tens of millions of dollars in losses in perpetuity. And the reason that's the case is that there aren't enough people in the Phoenix area willing to spend enough money on big-league professional hockey as an entertainment option to make a franchise viable there.

In the end, grand strategies for NHL growth are irrelevant. So is the importance of Phoenix as a television market.

Somebody has to be willing to pay the bills. Nobody has, at least since Jerry Moyes took the Coyotes into bankruptcy. No one is willing in Kansas City, either, or in Las Vegas, or in any of those other fantasy destinations.

And now that smoke on the horizon is telling us that it is Winnipeg's turn – again.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/midas-touch-unnecessary-for-winnipeg-to-get-coyotes/article1987885/

[Ed Anger]

blah blah blah.

[Barrister]

Detroit is up 1-0 in game 2. 

2-0

[viper37]

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/39788-Campbell-Coyotes-closing-in-on-move-to-Winnipeg.html

Coyotes closing in on move to Winnipeg


Amid reports the deal to sell the Phoenix Coyotes to Chicago  businessman Matthew Hulsizer is on life support, a source with knowledge  of the situation told THN.com a deal is basically done to move the  Coyotes to Winnipeg and will be announced sometime between the end of  the Stanley Cup final and the June 24 draft.

According to the  source, the deal calls for the Coyotes to be sold to True North Sports  and Entertainment for $140 million. It's believed the deal will be  announced at something north of $200 million, but that includes more  than $60 million in renovations to add 2,500 seats to the MTS Centre in  Winnipeg.

The source said the deal has not been signed, but there  is a memorandum of agreement in place and that the deal will be signed  when the NHL's deal with Hulsizer officially dies.

And once it  does, both the NHL and those on Glendale city council who voted for the  $197 million deal with Hulsizer will have a convenient scapegoat to  blame for the demise of the pact - the Goldwater Institute. The public  watchdog has vowed to file a lawsuit to block the sale of municipal  bonds to finance the purchase of the Coyotes. The Goldwater Institute  has been steadfast in its insistence the deal between Hulsizer and the  city of Glendale, which includes an upfront payment of $100 million to  Hulsizer, violates Arizona law with respect to public subsidies.

NHL  commissioner Gary Bettman and those on Glendale council who held their  nose and voted to approve the lease at Jobing.com Arena to keep the  Coyotes in Phoenix will be off the hook and will simply be able to blame  the Goldwater Institute and its incessant meddling as the reason why  the deal could not work.

But pointing to Goldwater as the reason  for the demise of the Coyotes sale is based on the same flawed logic  that blames the salary cap for the downward spiral of the Chicago  Blackhawks.

Doing so makes sense to Phil Lieberman, a Glendale  councilor who has been vocal in his opposition to the deal and was one  of two councilors who voted against it.

"I have talked to the  Goldwater Institute and they don't have a case until the bonds are  actually sold," Lieberman said. "There is no possible way, and I stand  behind this publicly, that the 5,500 parking spots at $10 a night can  pay the $7 million to $8 million a year that the debt service would  require to cover the debt. It just can't be done."The lease was expected to cost the city of Glendale $197  million over a six year period, much of which would be covered by a sale  of $116 million worth of municipal bonds. But any shortfall would have  to be covered by the city.

Lieberman said when the city set aside  $20 million for Hulsizer's management fees for next year, it had to  take $9.5 million out of the city's contingency fund to balance the  budget. In a weak economy with unfinished and crumbling infrastructure,  Lieberman finds that unacceptable.

Lieberman said there are  several areas where the money would be better used. He pointed out the  city currently has 20 openings for police officers it won't fill in  order to meet the budget. He also said construction began on a  courthouse in his district and $42 million was earmarked for the  project, but after just $12 million was spent, the basement was capped  until the additional $30 million can be found; the project has been put  off until between 2015 and 2017. Also, a cultural center could not be  properly completed 10 years after it opened because there was not enough  money to do so.

He also said city employees last year had to  take a furlough that resulted in a 10 percent reduction in their pay and  will do the same this year to account for a five percent pay cut.

"I  want streets, I want sewers, I want gutters and I want cops," Lieberman  said. "Making sure that Hulsizer has a $20 million management fee, how  does that provide the services to my 39,900 constituents?"

[Barrister]

I don't buy several elements of that particular story though.

I can't see the NHL demanding an extra 2,500 seats to the MTS Centre.  That's a lot of money for seats that would be the cheapest ones in the building.

I can't also see the timeline working at all.  Announcing the deal in June?  Already the timing is extremely tight in Winnipeg.  They have to announce sooner.  And the Free Press story talked about a season ticket drive as early as next week (although that is not "the announcement").

Then there's a lot of fluff from Lieberman, who doesn't mention he voted for the Coyotes deal at certain points in time.

[sbr]

If Bettman learned anything from his apprenticeship from David Stern, there is no way he will allow a announcement of the team moving to take peoples' eyes off of the playoffs, especially while the Coyotes are still active in the playoffs.  He likely wouldn't want the announcement to happen until the playoffs are completely over.  That would make the timing for next season rather difficult though.

[Barrister]

If Bettman learned anything from his apprenticeship from David Stern, there is no way he will allow a announcement of the team moving to take peoples' eyes off of the playoffs, especially while the Coyotes are still active in the playoffs.  He likely wouldn't want the announcement to happen until the playoffs are completely over.  That would make the timing for next season rather difficult though.

Which is why I was 100% positive this would be over by now.

But as I said - waiting until June makes next season impossible.  If it was other people's money Bettman wouldn't care - but the league owns the Coyotes, and they don't want to be on the hook for another year of losses of $25 to $40 mil.

Now then could try and finesse it somehow - announce a "possible" or "tentative" move to Winnipeg, and only make it official in June.  But I don't see how that makes things any better for the league.

[Ed Anger]

 

[Barrister]

You saw it was me, posting in the NHL thread.  What did you expect me to be talking about?   

[Barrister]

By the way - plenty of tickets are still available for Game 3 in Phoenix on Monday.  

[Ed Anger]

You saw it was me, posting in the NHL thread.  What did you expect me to be talking about?   

Apples.