Could be a Wild Three Days

On their own, none will shake the tectonic plates of our hockey-mad country.

But together? Man, that could be wild.

On Tuesday night, we'll find out whether the Vancouver Canucks can force a seventh and deciding game in their second round series with the Chicago Blackhawks, which would be on Thursday. At the same time, a city council meeting in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, could decide to wave buh-bye to the Coyotes and pave the way for the team to be relocated to Winnipeg.

On Wednesday night, the Montreal Canadiens will try to record their second upset of these Stanley Cup playoffs by knocking off the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 down in Pennsylvania. 

So, at least in theory, by late Thursday night you could have both the Canadiens and the Canucks headed to the NHL's Final Four, and the Coyotes headed to Manitoba.

Talk about breaking news.

Out of all of these, none are necessarily a safe bet. 

The Habs are underdogs on the road. Ditto for the Canucks if they can even make it to Game 7.

Finally, the NHL seems determined to do everything and anything humanly possible to keep the league's presence in Arizona, and you have to wonder if that might even include owning and operating the team for another season.

As of last night, it appeared talks between Ice Edge Holdings and Glendale had broken down, and Ice Edge is, we're led to believe, the last ownership candidate with an interest in keeping the team in the Phoenix area.

You have to feel for the taxpayers of Glendale. They got suckered into building this arena, and now, if they let the Coyotes go, they'll be left without a major tenant.

Then again, if they bend over and do what it takes to keep the team, they may be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars, and may end up getting sued by various texpayer groups.

Billionaire David Thomson, meanwhile, is apparently ready to stroke a cheque that would return the Coyotes to Winnipeg from whence they were lifted 14 years ago. 

So none of this may happen, all of it could happen, or maybe one - Habs win, Canucks win, Winnipeg wins - could happen.

A wild three days ahead, indeed.

Comments

[Earl]

Go JETS!!

[Kev]

Damien Cox - the National Enquirer of Canadian hockey writers.

[Sandy T.]

David Thomson may indeed be ready to "stroke a cheque" to buy the team and move it to Winnipeg, but what's he got in mind for the long term? A couple of years in The 'Peg, and then... The Toronto Jets?

[Chris]

I'm not looking forward to another summer of this garbage. Should have let Balsille buy the team. I said last year that Bettman fighting Balsille would be his greatest blunder and it will be. He's shown the players that he has zero interest in a 'partnership' where their salaries are tied to revenues. If he did have an interest in a 'partnership' he'd be trying to increase revenues any way possible and not deliberately preventing a viable partner from moving a franchise from an un-profitable area to a profitable one. The NHL has said all along that Balsille's offer wasn't the issue; it was that he didn't follow the rules. Bettman has also let the NHL owners down. How many more years of revenue-sharing with franchises like Phoenix, Atlanta, and Nashville are teams like Toronto, Montreal and New York going to take? Those teams are paying for unsuccessful teams in bad markets that never seem to turn it around. It has to be frustrating to lose money when there is an option to prevent it that is being avoided at all costs. It's like a guy comes to replace a leaky pipe in your house for free but your wife sends him away and insists that you just keep buying new carpet every few months to deal with the damage.

[other mark]

First time I have seen anyone in the last several days offer the opinion that the league will operate the Yotes in Glendale for another year. Frankly, I think that is the most likely outcome. Bettman (whether you like or dislike him)is not a stupid man. The exist strategy for the Yotes includes maximizing their value and the trasfer fee that the NHL will impose on any move to a new martet. The legal battles were not a personal spat with Jim Balsillie, despite nonsense to the contrary. It was about controling if/when/how much it was going to take to move the Yotes. Basillie tried an end around and it failed. Meanwhile, as long as there is a chance that the Yotes can contribute to covering the fixed costs of running that arena, the Glendale city council will do anything to keep them as a tennant (better something then zero dollars towards expenses that will exist with or without a tennant). And Mr. Bettman will continue to play the long game and try to maximize the value of all franchises, not just Phoenix. If that means keeping them in Arizona for another year, so be it. I think this is even more likely given the team has actually improved the on-ice product and may even succeed in drawing new fans.

[guelphdad]

"NHL seems determined to do everything and anything humanely possible"

not sure if that was a typo or not, I don't think there's anything humane about Bettman's decision making.

[Johnnyk]

Balsillie was not a "clubabble" guy. Not someone ready to get along with other owners.