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The promotion, which has been dubbed “join the pack,” is meant to create a more loyal fanbase and it could work.  When you’re facing bankruptcy and being sold/moved to another city, you’ve got to try everything.

With all of the drama over the summer, it’s no surprise that fans didn’t go out and buy tickets for this season since I’m sure they wondered if the team would even be around.  The team’s second home game attracted (wait for it) a whopping 6,899 fans.  Can you believe that?  Can you imagine how much it must suck for team morale?

Let’s hope things start improving for the Coyotes or it won’t take long for the vultures to swoop in.

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Ryan Hollweg has been added to the Coyotes’ lineup and I know that there are a lot of Toronto Maple Leafs fans who aren’t crying about him leaving.  After attending the club’s training camp tryouts, he was offered a one-year deal but I don’t know the financial details.

In 25 appearances with the Leafs last season, he collected a whopping two assists.  He was drafted in 2001 by the New York Rangers.

Clearly, Hollweg wasn’t signed to score so I hope he fits whatever void they think he’s going to fill…

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Dave Tippett has been tapped as the next head coach and will be trying to bring the team to where Gretzky could not in the four seasons he was behind the bench. 

Tippett had a relatively good track record during his time with the Dallas Stars who, under his guidance, made it to the 2008 Western Conference Finals, captured two division titles and made it to the playoffs five times.

Of course, things were pretty nasty for the team last season.  About a million players were injured, including captain Brenden Morrow.  Goaltender Marty Turco was terrible and, naturally, there was the whole Sean Avery crap.

After the team finished 12th, Tippett was fired but I didn’t really agree with it but that’s the nature of the game, right?  Hopefully, he will help Phoenix pull it together this season.

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Gretzky feels that it’s time to move on and was hoping, as the team’s managing partner, that the bankruptcy proceedings would have been finished by now.  I thought it would be decided by now as well and it’s pretty frustrating that the team is just hanging there waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Gretzky said: "Since both remaining bidders have made it clear that I don’t fit into their future plans, I approached general manager Don Maloney and suggested he begin looking for someone to replace me as coach."

Ouch!  Well, hopefully this is a fresh start for everyone involved.  I hope Sidney Crosby is taking notes.  This is one part of Gretzky’s career that he shouldn’t want to duplicate.

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Ice Edge holdings has dropped out of the race saying that they intended to pay up to $150 million USD to buy and keep the Coyotes in Arizona (as long as they came to some sort of lease agreement with the city of Glendale).

This leaves the NHL and Balsillie as the only bidders and, of course, the Canadian billionaire has offered the highest amount.  After increasing his offer by $30 million, Balsillie notified the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix that he is willing to pay $242.5 million.  He plans to move the team to Hamilton.  Meanwhile, the NHL (with commissioner Gary Bettman strongly opposing the sale of the team to Balsillie) has offered just $140 million with the intention of keeping the team in Arizona.  The NHL board of governors voted 26-0 with three abstentions against Balsillie as an owner.

A judge is going to review Balsillie’s bid on Friday to decide whether he will allow him to vie for the team against the NHL’s wishes. 

I don’t even know what to say anymore and I don’t know how I feel about the team staying in Phoenix and I don’t know how I feel about the team moving to Hamilton.  Of course, I’d love to see another NHL team in Canada but there are some things that I don’t like about this deal.

First of all, I do think Balsillie is a shady character.  His desperation for an NHL is a little scary, to be honest, since he’s gone after the Coyotes as well as the Nashville Predators in the past.

Secondly, I don’t really want Ontario to have a third NHL team.  Call me selfish but I would like to see Quebec get a second team or they could try to market in the prairies again (Saskatchewan, Manitoba). 

What do you think?  Would it be good to have the team move?

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I can’t understand how anyone would:

• think keeping the team in Phoenix is a good idea
• offer to take over the team and keep it where it is
• believe that there is a viable market here for an NHL team
• feel it is a good investment
• etc, etc, etc….

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I know that there are some amazing fans in Phoenix and I wish that hockey was huge in every city but it’s just not realistic.  You can’t force people to go to the games, buy jerseys and become fans overnight (or ever).  It’s not even at the point where it’s underperforming anymore – this is outright failure and I’m sad about it.

It’s crazy to me to think that a group (headed by Jerry Reinsdorf) actually put in a bid on Friday to purchase the team for $148 million.  There’s another offer (or letter of intent, I should say) from a group headed by Canadian-born businessman, Daryl Jones.  He wants to bring the team to Canada.

I’ll admit that I am not particularly business-savvy but I can’t see how they think they can turn things around.  It’s the desert – a lot of people aren’t interested in seeing people fight in skates.  It’s an American city and although there are tons of U.S. fans and some successful teams, Arizona already has an NBA, NFL and MLB team.  Hockey just gets lost in the mix.

I know the NHL believes that the Coyotes could do well with better management and “a better product on the ice” but that’s a lot of variables that are beyond anyone’s control, really.  People take over teams all the time only to watch them go up in smoke (ahem… Tampa Bay).

I would be worried if I were Wayne Gretzky and/or any of the players on that team. I wish they would just get this settled as soon as possible so that everyone can move on and begin to deal with the fallout.

Do you think that the team should stay in Arizona?  If not, where should it go?

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This statement by his lawyers sum it up pretty well: “Mr. Gretzky is a public figure; in fact, he is one of the most recognizable sports figures in the history of the United States, and the most recognized hockey player in the history of the National Hockey League.  Mr. Gretzky has a clear interest in maintaining the privacy of his financial records, and his privacy interest is one that outweighs (Glendale’s) need for disclosure of Mr. Gretzky’s personal tax records.”

They added, however, that he would be willing to appear for examination and to provide any “non-private, non-privileged documents.”

Unless the court thinks that Gretzky is involved with some sort of corruption, I really don’t see why they need to see his personal finances.  It would be justified, however, if, in the course of their investigation, they uncovered evidence that suggests he and the team have done something untoward.  So far, I haven’t really heard anything like that from a reputable source.

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According the the judge, there were too many problems to resolve before the June 29, 2009 closing date that had been set in an effort to speed things along.  Incredibly, Balsillie’s plan was to have the team in place for the 2009-10 season.

I don’t mean to be rude but I find that slightly arrogant.  First of all, setting a close date that is so soon really seems like a sign of someone who is used to manipulating and pressuring people in order to get what they want.

Second, if you care about a team, you aren’t going to want to rush such a major transition.  Moving from Phoenix to Hamilton is a huge deal and, while I understand that the Coyotes are in trouble, I don’t think rushing a move is the answer to their problems.

Anyway, I know NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is celebrating since the league had argued that “the bid was designed to skirt league rules on the transfer of ownership and relocation and should be rejected for that reason.”  I am inclined to agree after what I’ve seen.

I am not sure, however, that I agree with the NHL’s assertion that the Coyotes could still work in Phoenix despite the fact that in the 13 years since the team moved to Arizona, they’ve actually lost $300 million.

On the other hand, Balsillie has unsuccessfully tried to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators.  While the Preds continue to struggle, the Penguins have just won the Stanley Cup which could really spark interest in their market.  Maybe it’s good that they stayed exactly where they are.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Coyotes from this point forward.

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Okay, so maybe Bettman didn’t say those words exactly but court documents have revealed that the NHL commissioner would prefer to see the Phoenix Coyotes move to Winnipeg than Hamilton.  I think that’s the smartest thing I’ve ever heard him say.

Honestly, I know that a lot of people are all for it moving to Hamilton but I just don’t think it’s right to have three teams in the same province (and, yes, I also don’t think California needs all those teams – especially after I saw first-hand how little many of the residents of Anaheim care about the Ducks).

Besides, the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton is more than 30 years old and Winnipeg just got a new arena.  Sure, it only seats around 15,000 fans but that seems like more than enough at this point.

The Coyotes’ bankruptcy hearing is on Tuesday.  I can’t wait to hear what comes out after that.

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To be perfectly honest, I don’t completely understand some of the jargon being thrown around but I will say that it’s pretty clear that the league was unhappy when Moyes tried to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The NHL holds an "irrevocable proxy" according to documents filed in an Arizona court and I believe that they will fight any efforts to sell the team.  “As a condition to providing this support, the league required Mr. Moyes . . . to execute proxies in favour of the commissioner of the NHL to control the equity and operation of the (club).  Moyes asked that he be allowed to retain his titles to avoid public embarrassment, and the league so agreed, but with the express understanding that he had no authority . . .  to take any action outside the normal course of business, including filing for bankruptcy."

I don’t know what to say about that but it looks like Moyes was trying to pull a fast one on the league.  I’m guessing that BlackBerry millionaire, Jim Balsillie, flashed some major cash in front of him and Moyes was tempted.  Of course, the Coyotes owner is denying the claims and says that the NHL “was only given voting powers on certain matters and that bankruptcy is not included because it is not a voting matter.”

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