What Will Happen to the Phoenix Coyotes?

Canadian billionaire, Jim Balsillie, has thrown his hat in the ring and has made an offer to buy the struggling Phoenix Coyotes for a cool $212.5 million USD.  The co-chief executive officer of the Blackberry maker, Research in Motion, swooped in after the club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  In the meantime, he’s given then $17 million to continue operating through the proceeding.  Wow.

There’s just one catch – Balsillie would want to move the team to southern Ontario.  I don’t like the idea but Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to weigh in on the matter: "I’d love another NHL team in Canada . . . particularly southern Ontario can support another team.  I have even (mentioned) to a couple of NHL owners I think southern Ontario is ripe to support more than one NHL team."

Uhhhh… I am one of the Canadians who actually likes Harper and I just want to say that I find it very bizarre to have our nation’s leader weighing in on this potential move.  I know he’s a hockey fan (and we’re a hockey loving country) but I’m sure he’s got better things to talk about.  What am I missing here?

Anyway, I’m sure earning the support of the prime minister bolstered Balsillie’s spirits but I’m equally sure that it has the NHL (particularly commissioner Gary Bettman) seeing red. 

Bettman doesn’t want the team to move and believes that it can still work in Phoenix.  His plan is to do his best to make sure the team stays right where it is.  My only question about that pertains to the fact that the Coyotes got into financial ruins somehow, right?  If it was a good hockey market then would the team be on the brink of bankruptcy? 

"We generally try to avoid relocating franchises unless you absolutely have to," he said. "We think when a franchise is in trouble, you try and fix the problems. That’s what we did in Pittsburgh and Ottawa and Buffalo prior to our work stoppage. That’s what we did when the perception was that five out of the six Canadian franchises around the turn of the century were in trouble. We fixed the problems. We don’t run out on cities."

Here’s my thing – is Ontario the only Canadian province that can get a new hockey team?  Every time I hear chatter about a move, it’s always about Ontario.  Guess what?  That place already has the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs so why not share the love a little bit?  The population in places like Saskatchewan has grown considerably and continues to grow and I think that it is a market that is ripe for the picking. 

What do you think?  Where should the Coyotes be?  Should they stay in Phoenix or move?

image: TSN