Who's He Kidding?

1) Yesterday when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was asked about the Phoenix Coyote ownership situation he offered this verbal gymnastics effort worthy of an Olympic gold medal: "We're not setting a timeline," Bettman said Wednesday night. "We're dealing with it, and we're continuing to pursue a solution and reach a point where we conclude we can't reach a solution, we'll deal with it. But we do hope we can reach a solution so that the timing will become irrelevant."

2) Let me offer a translation: Stop fucking asking me questions I don't want to answer!! Seriously speaking though there probably is no news and regardless of the persistent rumors of 1,2 or even 3 parties interested in buying the moribund franchise that is still hemorrhaging money estimated in the tens of millions despite their on ice success. No sane person is going to spend millions to be in the position to be guaranteed to lose millions more! There simply is no scenario that we can see where the franchise can suddenly become profitable. The City of Glendale, who owns the arena, is in no financial position to give a new owner the tax breaks, etc needed to make the team appear viable. A few have, and are sniffing around the edges, but as soon as hard numbers are discussed they run!

3) So what is the ultimate end game here? From what our sources tell us the deadline to get a deal in place appears to be June 1. Some say they could extend it to July 1, but that would be a tough sell especially if that means the team will be relocated. For there are NO shortages of prospective buyers who would love to move the team to a profitable location. Whether that be Kansas City, Seattle, Hamilton or some other NHL-ready city there is little doubt that the NHL would no problem unloading the team in short order if they were a 'free agent'.