I think this amendment signifies that rather than going to the mattresses to get the Coyotes, Balsillie realizes he’s going to have three or four more shots at acquiring an NHL team in the very near future.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 08/25/09 at 08:11 AM ET

Balsillie realizes he’s going to have three or four more shots at acquiring an NHL team in the very near future.

Crazy talk. This is his final opportunity. He might have the money, but there’s no way the BoG will allow him in, having shown his outright refusal to play by the rules.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 08/25/09 at 09:47 AM ET

Depends on how many more NHL teams Bettman thinks he can give away for 0 dollars like the Coyotes, I suppose.

Personally, I think however this goes will serve as a pretty decent trial run for Balsillie into what he needs to do the next time in order to seal the deal.

As Tampa certainly and a few other clubs most likely start sliding towards insolvency, Balsillie is certainly going ot have a shot at getting in the door somewhere.

IMO his next tactic will be to sign on either himself or through a proxy as a minority owner of a financially laboring team and work it that way.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 08/25/09 at 10:32 AM ET

I find it hard to believe that a team would move in mid september, no matter what Balsillie says, due to the shear logistical nightmare it would cause for the league. I mean, the league isn’t going to change its schedule in mid September, even if it wanted to do so. The team is not changing conferences, let alone divisions that late either. So what you would have is west coast trips being interrupted by a long ass trip east to Hamilton then a trip all the way back to the west coast. You’d have what should be a short flight for their divisional opponents being interrupted by a long ass flight out to Hamilton and back..I just don’t see how it would be even remotely possible to move a team that late. Whatever the outcome of the court, the team is staying in Arizona this year.

Posted by UMFan from Colorado on 08/25/09 at 10:48 AM ET

HockeyinHD is Delusional Ignore his ramblings

Posted by Evilpens on 08/25/09 at 11:08 AM ET

UMFan, I couldn’t agree with you more, regardless of the outcome, the Coyotes couldn’t be moved. Is there any clause in the CBA on schedules and games across time zones, etc., like baseball has? If not, maybe an emergency addendum could be worked in prior to the hearing?

Posted by philduba from New Jersey on 08/25/09 at 12:16 PM ET

They won’t be moved this year, that would be ridiculous.  Even if he DOES get approved as an owner (or somehow gets the court to overrule their...’disapproval’), the league is going to have to shift the way it’s aligned because a Hamilton team would almost certainly have to be put in the Eastern Conference, and as I read somewhere on the weekend, a lot of teams that already have a shit-ton of travel miles would be screwed by having to travels thousands of extra miles in order to play in Hamilton rather than Phoenix.

Posted by Garth on 08/25/09 at 03:13 PM ET

First, I’m just happy to be able to read such thoughtful, insightful posts from intellectual heavyweights like Evilpens.  Thank God for the internet.

Second, I think it’s almost impossible for the Coyotes to move this year… which is mostly why I think this addendum of Balsillie’s is more of an attempt to blow his involvement in the Phoenix deal up than anything else.

Given that, I have to wonder why he’s blowing up his chase after the Coyotes.  Unless he’s given up on his dream of an NHL team in Hamilton (which I strongly doubt), I’m left to ponder, then, what his next move is.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 08/25/09 at 04:54 PM ET