And later that night…

The Coyotes organization lost at least $45 million last season, was last in the league with ticket revenue at $18.4-million, and has lost $316 million since moving to Phoenix in 1996. The organization did not even meet enough of the trigger criterion set by the NHL to receive their full ($15 million) league revenue sharing money, which is the highest in the league. The Coyotes also only averaged about 11,000 fans per game last season at Jobing.com Arena.

In other news…
the Montreal Canadiens were sold to the Molson brothers (mmmm, beeer) by George Gillett for perhaps at much as $555 million.

Over the weekend, our favorite mini-commish Gary Bettman made his first appearance at an NHLPA meeting in Las Vegas. The meeting lasted nearly two hours and the biggest topic of discussion had to do with steroid and performance enhancing drug use in the NHL. Bettman and the players seemed to agree that it wasn’t much of an issue in the league, and nothing was decided on the issue of drug testing in the future. For Bettman… typical talk and PR. Furthermore, the NHL’s TV contract also came up in the meeting… it seems as though players want the league to move to ESPN, but the little man sticks to his original terrible decision to put and keep the games on NBC and Versus.

Balsillie isn’t giving up, however… even though his battle might be a tougher one than trying to make ice in a desert. Balsillie is going to submit another motion to the court, to purchase the team and hopefully enter mediation with the NHL.

So what do we all and Jim Balsillie do? SEND AN EMAIL TO GARY BETTMAN AND FLOOD HIS INBOX!!!!!!!!!!! We are working with Jim Balsillie and his MakeItSeven campaign to send the little commish as many emails as possible.

Simply fill out the form below and hit submit, and the message below will be sent to Gary Bettman!!!!!:

The Judge heard from both sides earlier in the week. The major outcome of the proceedings was that the NHL could probably charge Balsillie a relocation fee to move the team from Phoenix to Hamilton. This fee could be at least $100 million, which would create an easy $300+ million price tag for the desert team.

If this is the case and it’s as simple as this (which we highly doubt)… we say WRITE THE CHECK BALSILLIE!!! Just get the deal done and move on!! If he wants this team and wants this for Canada enough, he can and will do it.

In other news… Balsillie and his MakeItSeven movement have chosen June 19th as Make It Seven Day in Canada!

If you can’t read the graphic above, here is the text:

Gary,

Hi. Sidney here. I just want to compliment on the wonderful job you’ve done with the game; especially in this years playoffs. Although I hear rumblings of a bias towards our team thus far it is under the table. Lets hope it stays like that. If the media ever knew the refs were on the hook to get us to the finals and win in 7 it would be both our careers

I tried to talk to the guys in the room about Game 5 as we got a little carried away. With some of the cheap shots we gave the refs had to call them. We will be much better in game 6. Are the refs ready? We’re supposed to get a couple power plays in the beginning of the game so we can get a lead right? Hey, how did you like that dive I took? That sure was a beauty, eh?

OK, Gary. Well I know you are busy. As long as the refs are on board we will win game 6 and force a game 7.

Are you coming over for dinner after the finals? I reserved us a cozy little cottage with candlelight and no one will know us. I can’t wait. I have the eatable undies that you like.

Love you Gary.

Sidney Crosby

PS - Malkin says hi. Hey I was wondering if you would mind if he joined us?

Update @ 12:49p.m. on 6/9/09: If you’re on Twitter, follow @kash2112 for a play by play of the courtroom case in Phoenix.

Update @ 12:11p.m. on 6/9/09: The little commish is currently in a Phoenix courtroom awaiting the decision from Judge Redfield T. Baum regarding the ownership/control of the Coyotes… is it the NHL or owner Jerry Moyes? However, the decision is not expected to come until the end of the week.

This must be a great day for our favorite little man… has to be in Phoenix due to the failure of a franchise placed in the middle of a desert, and then has to fly back to Pittsburgh to possibly see the Red Wings eliminate the mental midget’s wonder boy from the Stanley Cup Finals… and then have to hand The Cup (reluctantly) over to the Red Wings.

Add another pair of investors to the list of those who have applied to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. According to mini-commish Bettman, Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon of the Toronto Argonauts have filed an application with the NHL to purchase and keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Paul Kelly (president of the NHLPA) let it be known that he (and most players) don’t think an NHL franchise is viable in Phoenix and that it is time to “pull the plug”… instead of letting the team continue to lose money and be held up by other teams and the league.

In his column at the Globe and Mail, Stephen Brunt gives a great take on the offers/applications being put forth by new investors for the Phoenix Coyotes, and how Bettman is bluffing… simply to eliminate the possibility of Jim Balsillie acquiring an NHL team. Bettman says that Balsillie hasn’t played by the rules… it seems to us that Bettman creates the rules as he goes along (much like the NHL refs), and is breaking them even more than Balsillie. What ever happened to good ol’ fashioned honesty Mr. Commish?

To all our Make It Seven Supporters,

Tell it to the Judge!

We need everyone who supports an NHL franchise in Hamilton to let the Phoenix bankruptcy court Judge know. And it’s easy to do.

Tuesday June 9 is a critical court hearing to determine whether the Coyotes can be relocated when they’re sold out of bankruptcy.

We need some evidence for the Judge - evidence of bigger, stronger and deeper numbers of Hamilton backers.

We need you to use our “Tell a Friend” feature to get your neighbours, co-workers, family and friends to sign up to Makeitseven.ca.

Do it today. Do it now. We need to pull together. We need to tell it to the Judge.

Make It Seven.

In other very related news, a Toronto investment group - The Toronto Legacy Group - has put forth a proposal/bid for another NHL team in Toronto. The group says they already have around $900 million in financing available, and want to name the team the Toronto Legacy. We’re wondering if this is a joke…. but we guess if Los Angeles can “support” two teams, Toronto shouldn’t have a problem. However, we’d rather see the next team in Hamilton, or another city in Canada.

5/19/09 Update: Bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum today ordered the NHL and Phoenix owner Jerry Moyes into mediation until the 27th of this May, pretty much making fun of the fact that the NHL could not handle this outside of his courtroom.

This is a good sign for Balsillie, for the fact that the judge didn’t simply (as many expected) side with the NHL. It could be bad news for Balsillie, however, as this delays the possible transfer of the team, especially with prior concerns by the NHL about it interfering with next year’s schedule.

It sounds to us like the judge just hasn’t researched and learned enough about this case to yet make a decision… but we definitely do like his sense of humor:

“To save the suspense, I’m not going to rule from the bench today,” he said.

Hopefully his decision ends up coming from a bench favored by Hamilton.

Gary Bettman might not want a new NHL team in Hamilton, but he might be willing to let a team move back to Winnipeg. Bettman says that Copps Coliseum (where the Hamilton team would play) is over 30 years old and too old, and that only an expansion team would be allowed in Hamilton (which we all know will never happen). Another reason Bettman has given for not allowing the sale/move of Phoenix to Hamilton this year is because it would interfere with the 2009-2010 NHL schedule… which we don’t believe has been released yet. Either way, Jim Balsillie stated over the weekend that he is willing to delay the move of Phoenix to Hamilton until the 2010-2011 season, if scheduling was such a problem.

While all of this goes on and Bettman and the NHL said they have also been in talks with Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, about buying the team for $130 million and keeping it in Phoenix… the bankruptcy court showdown between Moyes and the NHL should end tomorrow - Tuesday, May 19th - with a ruling expected.

We do like the fact that Bettman has brought up Winnipeg’s name in the move of the Coyotes to a new place… but doubt that he is serious about it at all, and it is more of a PR stunt. Furthermore, why is he trying to prevent a thriving NHL franchise from existing in Hamilton, when one in Winnipeg already failed??! Once again, little Napoleon won’t let his ego out of the way and do what’s best for this league and sport…