The Hockey Thread

[Mr. X]

Patrick Kane arrested

I'm waiting for all the details, but there is no reason that a 20 year old should go after a cabbie for chump change.

Edited August 9, 2009 by Mr. X

[Ruki]

He was framed!

[Ruki]

Bye bye Pogge

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded goaltender Justin Pogge to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday for a conditional draft pick in 2011.

Here's hoping he plays well enough for the pick to be worth something.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Ruki

[Toe]

With Gustavvson here, Pogge would have sat in the minors. He has shown little progress so far and was pretty bad in the chances he got with the Leafs. I do hope he can turn it around and become an NHL player, but the Leafs were not happy with his progress and were willing to let him go. We still have prospect James Reimer and we just signed Joey MacDonald, so the Marlies are set this year.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I get a feeling Toe could rationalize a Jed Ortmeyer signing as somehow getting the Leafs to the playoffs.

Or an Alex Rios one.

[Jerichoholic23]

I don't know how much of you care about whats going on with the Coyotes but I read this from the Sportsnet forum site.

FIRST, the League feels it EXTREMELY unlikely that Mr. Balsillie will "win", and be allowed to purchase the Coyotes. This feeling was reinforced by a comment made by Judge Baum, in today's hearing. The NHL Lawyers asked the Judge to rule quickly on their request to have Jim Balsillie's bid rejected because the league rejected him as an owner. Judge Baum deferred, saying, "Let's deal with that only if Balsillie wins. I don't think we will have to confront that issue unless Balsillie wins."

SECOND, in the off-chance (in the BoG's view) that Mr. Balsillie actually wins and is allowed to purchase the Team, the BoG is currently planning to revoke the Coyotes Franchise. That will make the Franchise worthless, and will result in years of legal maneuvering. The BoG believes there is a good chance they will win that legal battle, BUT, it also provides TIME.

Said time will allow the US Supreme Court to decide the American Needle Case, which may well exempt all Professional Leagues from ANY anti-trust claims, provided they show they acted in "good faith". The BoG sees this likelihood as their "insurance policy".

FINALLY, while all of this is going on, the BoG would be free to authorize an "expansion franchise" to replace the Coyotes, and continue to operate, with partners they approve and whom they trust.

Everyday this thing drags on the NHL looks like more of a joke. I hope that if Balsillie wins that Bettman loses his job.

[Jerichoholic23]

I don't know how much of you care about whats going on with the Coyotes but I read this from the Sportsnet forum site.

FIRST, the League feels it EXTREMELY unlikely that Mr. Balsillie will "win", and be allowed to purchase the Coyotes. This feeling was reinforced by a comment made by Judge Baum, in today's hearing. The NHL Lawyers asked the Judge to rule quickly on their request to have Jim Balsillie's bid rejected because the league rejected him as an owner. Judge Baum deferred, saying, "Let's deal with that only if Balsillie wins. I don't think we will have to confront that issue unless Balsillie wins."

SECOND, in the off-chance (in the BoG's view) that Mr. Balsillie actually wins and is allowed to purchase the Team, the BoG is currently planning to revoke the Coyotes Franchise. That will make the Franchise worthless, and will result in years of legal maneuvering. The BoG believes there is a good chance they will win that legal battle, BUT, it also provides TIME.

Said time will allow the US Supreme Court to decide the American Needle Case, which may well exempt all Professional Leagues from ANY anti-trust claims, provided they show they acted in "good faith". The BoG sees this likelihood as their "insurance policy".

FINALLY, while all of this is going on, the BoG would be free to authorize an "expansion franchise" to replace the Coyotes, and continue to operate, with partners they approve and whom they trust.

Everyday this thing drags on the NHL looks like more of a joke. I hope that if Balsillie wins that Bettman loses his job.

Sorry double post. My computer is very slow and old. Need to get a new one LOL

Edited August 11, 2009 by Jerichoholic23

[Toe]

I get a feeling Toe could rationalize a Jed Ortmeyer signing as somehow getting the Leafs to the playoffs.

Or an Alex Rios one.

I never said losing Pogge somehow magically makes us good enough to make the playoffs. I just think management lost faith in him when he failed to show any spark last year.

[Jerichoholic23]

Since I haven't found any one else post about the Coyotes situation I will update any of you that care on the newest news.

Balsillie wants Peddie to explain Leafs position

By Lance Hornby, Sun Media

Last Updated: 12th August 2009, 7:01pm

Jim Balsillie’s quest to bring the Phoenix Coyotes north is hoping to go through Bay St., and the office of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. president and CEO Richard Peddie.

It’s Peddie that Balsillie’s lawyers have asked among other NHL execs to an Arizona bankruptcy court to be subjected to a deposition, explaining the Leafs’ position on a competing team setting up a half hour’s drive away in Hamilton.

In a request Wednesday, PSE Sports and Entertainment (Balsillie) said it believes “that, notwithstanding the NHL’s pretextual arguments, the Maple Leafs are trying to block PSE’s purchase of the Coyotes in order to prevent a Hamilton relocation and competition with the Leafs in Southern Ontario. Mr. Peddie is thus a central witness on the relocation issue.”

Later Wednesday, the NHL did agree to allow depositions from commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and two league owners, Jeremy Jacobs and Craig Leipold, but want the proposed deposition of Peddie scrapped by Judge Redfield T. Baum.

Peddie could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Balsillie’s attempt to buy the bankrupt Coyotes for $212.5 million US and move them to Hamilton has hit strong NHL opposition and was dealt a hard blow on Tuesday when the Coyotes biggest creditor abandoned Balsillie for rival bidder Jerry Reinsdorf.

In its earlier filing Wednesday, Balsillie’s lawyers urged that the NHL personnel provide interviews and documents prior to a Sept. 2 hearing when many of the motions surrounding the tangled case will be sorted by Baum prior to the actual auction process on Sept. 10. Reinsdorf’s bid ios $148 million with the league’s blessing, but dependent on side deals with local officials in Glendale.

The Balsillie group are particularly interested in seeing purchase agreements for a number of NHL teams since 2000, gate receipts for teams such as the Leafs since 1996 and “all documents pertaining to the prospect of another franchise entering the Southern Ontario market”.

But the league has kept arguing that such points are moot because it has already overwhelmingly rejected Balsillie as an owner for reasons not connected to the Coyotes proposed move into the rich Toronto market.

In another document filed Wednesday under Baum’s direction, the NHL wants depositions from Balsillie, his lawyer Richard Rodier, current Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes and his lawyer, Earl Scudder, and Coyotes president and CEO Doug Moss. Baum, however, has warned all parties that there is not enough time to satisfy all such requests prior to Sept. 10.

At the Sept. 2 hearing, Baum will decide whether he should disregard the NHL board of governors recent 26-0 rejection of Balsillie and designate him a qualified bidder for the team.

The NHL is also trying to convince Baum that it’s too late in the process to move the Coyotes to Copps Coliseum in Hamilton for 2009-10, with the team set to open training camp on Sept. 12.

* with files from Canadian Press

I hope Balsillie wins and the team moves to Hamilton. I do believe that MLSE is the biggest one behind the blocking of Balsillie and his attempt at owning a team. God forbid that people have another team in the area where tickets are cheaper and the real fans can go to the games. I am sure if Hamilton had a team that most of the people at the games wouldn't be those corporate losers like at Leaf games who aren't there for the game. I hope once this is all said and done it completely blows up in NHL and the rest of the owners faces.

[Cactus Drags]

What's the NHL got against Ballsillie? I know there's some history, didn't he try to buy the Preds or something?

[Jerichoholic23]

When he was attempting to buy the preds he went and got deposits on season tickets in Hamilton. The NHL didn't like this as they didn't want him to relocate the team saying he didn't do it by league rules.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

And even with the Coyotes takeover attempt he never even tried to do it by the rules.

But please don't keep posting the news about it here, most of us are inundated enough from sports, local, AND national media.

[Gabriel]

Balsillie's largest negative is one of the potential best positives too. His excitement about the sport and having a team has led him to take some drastic steps that have angered a lot of people in the league. So you could say that he hasn't handled it well at all... but on the other side of it, the biggest issue that the league has with Jim Balsillie is essentially that he is too excited about having a team. Shouldn't that be a good thing? Isn't it in everybody's best interest to see that the reason he's doing things wrong is because he's too excited to stop and go through the process properly? Gary Bettman and the NHL should have noticed this, and worked with him to make something happen.

You have multiple owners in the league saying negative things, ranging from how unhappy they are about finances, all the way to Charles Wang and Moyes proclaiming that they regret ever getting involved in the first place.

Jim Balsillie is a potential owner that the league should absolutely love to have on board. They just, for whatever reason, are unwilling to work with him to tone down his excitement a little and go through this together. Instead, they're going to fight him every step of the way, and he clearly loves the game more than most of the owners in the league, and dare I even say, most of the people in charge of the league.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

As much as I love Balsille and see firsthand the benefits of his and Lazaridis' philantrophy more than any oher EWBer, I'm completely on the NHL's side to a point here. If he wants to own a team, no matter how excited he is, the right way to go about it is to learn and follow the proper rules and procedures.

I start disagreeing with the NHL when they try to *stop* him from following the rules and procedures, but completely agree that if you want to buy any move an NHL team, it's probably better to tell the NHL before the public.

[Hajjhowe]

Yeah, I don't really like seeing teams move at all (Even when they are awful) but trying to do so in such a open and pretty unprofessional way isn't cool.

Oh, and mandatory Anaheim Ducks will win the cup post. See you guys in a couple of months when the playoffs start

[Plubby]

I won't see you in a couple months

Tank it up, motherfuckers!

[SeanDMan]

Where are you going to be? What's more important than hockey?

[Plubby]

Apparently April Golf is more important than hockey, according to Goofy Greg Sherman (trademark)

[Toe]

It looks like Kaberle won't be moved. His NTC kicks back in tomorrow.

If he was moved, we could have added a good skilled forward. With him, we keep a talented powerplay specialist on our roster.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Nick Kypreos wished my aunt a happy birthday today.