esum19

Balsillie the instigator in this scrap

Jun 14, 2007 04:30 AM
Damien Cox

Either Jim Balsillie relishes a good fight or he's determined that the NHL can't legally stop his bold move to bring a second franchise to southern Ontario.

The latter seems to be the smartest guess, and my goodness, this is becoming quite the spectacle, not to mention the biggest hockey story of the year.

Even before actually taking a seat among the tight circle of NHL owners, Balsillie has gone out of his way to identify himself as a flamboyant renegade.

Not only is the Waterloo billionaire not backing away from a direct confrontation with the league over the future of the Nashville Predators, he appears intent on ramping up the pressure. Brazenly so.

Ads in today's Hamilton Spectator read, "Yes, the Nashville Predators may in fact relocate to Hamilton, Ontario," as the newly formed Predators Sports and Entertainment LP officially put season tickets on sale for a future Hamilton NHL team just hours after Hamilton politicians confirmed a lease arrangement with the BlackBerry magnate.

Hardly an olive branch to the Bettman administration. Nor is it a good faith gesture to those hockey fans in the Music City hoping the team will stay in Tennessee.

In fact, it seems more likely to discourage fans from even considering the purchase of season tickets in Nashville as part of a Save-The-Preds drive.

Nope, the commish isn't going to like this one bit, and the league's growing annoyance with Balsillie's tactics may have been reflected in the decision to apparently not include serious discussion of the Preds sale in next week's board of governors meeting.

Of course, if the NHL delays approval of the Preds' sale to Balsillie much longer, it may only serve to turn Nashville fans off even more. After all, the team has seven players, including stalwarts Paul Kariya, Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen, set to become free agents July 1. If Balsillie isn't in control by then, all may walk.

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Adsfan

Since ignoring Mr. Balsillie is the worst thing that Gary Bettman and the NHL can do, that is what they will do. The next item will probably be putting exclusive NHL radio broadcasts on a 10 watt station in Churchill to complement the Versus TV broadcasts. Who needs NBC or ESPN in the US? You do Mr. Bettman!

Adsfan

Nothing has changed in about 10 days! Let's go for 10 more!

esum19

what is bettman doing? really.

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L E C A V A L I E R!!

Adsfan

Bettman is obstructing the Preds possible move to Hamilton. After Kariya and the other UFAs leave, the team will be worth less than yesterday. The KC offer may be overpaying also. No Kariya, Forsberg or Vokoun for starters.