Comments on: What’s going on with the Montreal Canadiens?

By: Senet1

Senet1 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:03:17 +0000

Well now that there are only two bidders NHL and Balsillie and he has increased his bid by another 30 Million, it would seem to be a no brainer, however, stranger things have happened and maybe there is under the table money that no one knows about happening. Anyway, I hope that Balsillie wins the day. I agree with Matts there has to come a time when the NHL owners say to themselves, how much is too much to keep Balsillie out of their group. There character argument keeps getting shot down by previous owners who still keep popping up with fraud charges against them. WOW! How can they possibly justify anything that they are saying about Balsillie when they have these other owners ******** up.

By: Mats Naslund

Mats Naslund — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:52:08 +0000

Not alot going on for the Habs right now as we’re excruciatingly close to the start of the rookie camps. The only things to talk about re:NHL are annoying and rediculous stories of the Coyotes and the NHLPA who can’t seem to get along no metter what the circumstance.

About those two: the NHLPA endorsed Balsillie’s bid to purchase the Coyotes. Interestng predicament considering the NHL would use NHLPA funds to purchase the Coyotes to keep the team away from RIMJim. Secondly, it has been only quietly reported since the hearing last wednesday, but Balsillie did offer to keep the Coyotes in Pheonix for the remainder of the year if the NHL is willing to split the losses. The NHL of course dismissed this notion outright, but when you hink about it, wasn’t the NHL going to absorb all of the losses anyway? At some point does common sense not have to kick in with the owners – either you: split the losses you were going to eat fully for the Coyotes this season (potentially $40-60 Million) and next year another booming franchise to pay into revenue sharing OR you spend $140 million to earn the right to add $40-60 million in debt for the right to sell a franchise for which it has already been proven there can be NO profitable sale?

Is there any doubt the real reason for the NHL’s perspective is ANYTHING but MLSE?

By: habknot

habknot — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:24:01 +0000

You are right, Senet, Hamilton is too good a market to ignore. It might hurt the Buffalo gate, tough, and I’d hate to see that. Columbus, Carolina, Nashville, Atlanta would look better in Halifax, Quebec, Winnipeg, but who knows, maybe Bettman’s master plan of turning southern americans into puck fans will work (is that a pig I see behind those clouds?).
I had forgotten about the Pittsburg debacle, MatsN, now they have 10 competitive years in front of them so I guess Balsillie will have to wait for another decade.
Seriously, if the NHL game wasn’t so beautiful, I’d just go watch PeeWee at the local arena.

By: Senet1

Senet1 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:28:37 +0000

I know that Balsille has made a few mistakes, I have never liked Bettman since he first came into the league. I has made it quite clear he does not want any Canadian franchises as long as there is an US market that has not been tapped. Somewhere down the line the NHL is going to have to bite the bullet, because there are quite a few Balsille’s out there and we could be looking at another WHA before too long with two divisions one affiliated with the KHL, which will cause the NHL all kinds of problems for five or six years just like the WHA did. The League has to smarten up and at least take a good look at Hamilton for a team.

By: Mats Naslund

Mats Naslund — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:41:22 +0000

Balsillie is no angel. He’s made a couple mistakes that have hurt his chances, but if memory serves correct it was the NHL who introduced an 11th hour clause on his purchase of the Penguins which soured the deal. Up until that moment he was using the ‘front door’ as the NHL would call it. Now they allege that his ‘side door’ tactics are what made him an unsuitable owner. What other option is there? ‘Climbing through the garage window’ tactics? People seem to forget that fact when they talk about the situaion these days. I agree with you though Habknot that this has become a pissing match.

Whatever happens, the NHL’s secretive regime is going to have to answer a lot of quesions surouding the way it conducts business.

By: habknot

habknot — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:02:44 +0000

Kovalev wants to finish his career here? He signed the wrong sheet of paper! It does seem he got bad advice from his agent, and thought Gainey would change offers. He could have signed with us (we would have had to withdraw the offer from Gionta). I like our team now, would have liked that better. Still think Gainey did what he had to do (and I’m sure he told the agents exactly what he was doing, it was up to them to believe him).

By: habknot

habknot — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:57:54 +0000

Balsillie is not blameless here. From the start he has tried to bull his way to a franchise when finesse may have reaped more rewards. Wether he or Bettman is to blame, i can’t tell; but it is obviously personal now. I think many ‘governors’ (owners) are grateful for the cap and don’t want to rock Bettman’s boat. Personally, I’d like to see a Cliff Fletcher / Serge Savard / Ken Dryden / a Patrick or some other ‘hockey’ person as commissioner. Bettman is slimy, and that tends to alienate hockey fans (see Stanley Cup presentation) north and south of the border.

By: Senet1

Senet1 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:51:37 +0000

Bettman did not fight this hard to keep franchises in Quebec and Winnipeg, nor did he care if Edmonton went south. I think he is actually looking at Mexico as the next great place to put a hockey team?

By: Mats Naslund

Mats Naslund — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:19:41 +0000

It keeps getting better! The NHL bid for the Coyotes is for $140 milion and would accept the arena lease deal with Gendale for a period of one year in order to find a buyer who would meet the criteria of the league. If at the end of that period no buyer is found the NHL would begin “an organized process to relocate the franchise in another territory.” …. What? I thought this was about keeping the team in Glendale? All reaction to Balsilie’s bid from the NHL has been that Balsillie’s bid is unacceptable because he wants to move the team. Now the NHL itself has decided that relocation within 1 year’s time is possible? What about making a cmmitment to maing hockey in Glendale work?

This whole process has turned into a joke. I’m not a lawyer,so I can’t say what the strength of Balsillie’s anti-trust case will be, but from an untrained perspective it looks awfully obvious what has happene over the past few days. The NHL has realised that Balillie’s bid isn’t as crazy as they have tried to make it sound and that the only way to win this process is to circumvent it in order to hand pick their new owner.

By: Avatar37

Avatar37 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:38:26 +0000

I agree, some very interesting points, and ones I hope get asked in the media. I agree that there is clearly a conflict of interest, I’d like to know how the NHL can justify JB being approved to buy a team then suddenly pulling that approval with the excuse that he is of dubious moral character, or whatever bs excuse they gave. I’d certainly like them to be held accountable for their clear double standards.