Phoenix Coyotes moving back to Winnipeg, maybe, It looks like we are gonna see the Winnipeg Jets again Options

[TJ Schulte]

From TSN.ca

Gary Bettman would prefer to see the Phoenix Coyotes move to Winnipeg than Hamilton, according to court documents filed as part of the NHL team's bankruptcy case.

A lawyer who works for Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes says the NHL commissioner told him that last month after he contacted the league to let it know that there was a Canadian purchaser who was interested in moving the team to southern Ontario.

In an affidavit filed Friday, Earl Scudder says that Bettman informed him Hamilton wasn't an ideal destination because Copps Coliseum is over 30 years old, saying "if the team did return to Canada, it would be to Winnipeg."

The franchise moved to Phoenix from the Manitoba capital in 1996.

Scudder's affidavit also says that Bettman said the only way a team would end up in southern Ontario is through expansion.

His sworn statement was one of several documents submitted to the Arizona bankruptcy court by Moyes's lawyers on Friday. In one filing, the NHL is accused of looking out for its own interests rather than those of the creditors who would be paid if Jim Balsillie's US$212.5-million bid to purchase the team was allowed to go through.

The document also raises the question of what the league would do if the court rules that it has control of the team, saying: "After all, it is beyond dispute that Coyotes Hockey is insolvent."

The parties will be in a Phoenix courtroom for a bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday.

A central argument from the NHL is that Moyes gave up the right to place the team into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection when he received financing to keep the Coyotes afloat in November. That notion is disputed numerous times throughout the latest filings.

"I have not given up control of the Phoenix Coyotes to the NHL, and I have never discussed giving up control of the Phoenix Coyotes to the NHL," Moyes said in an affidavit.

One document claims that his sole intention is to sell the Coyotes to the highest bidder.

It also accuses the league of getting in the way of that process by refusing to disclose details of a reported offer from Jerry Reinsdorf, who owns the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox.

[SEMIweather]

The NHL has too many teams.

Honestly, instead of doing this, let's just contract the Coyotes, Predators, Thrashers, Lightning, Panthers, and Kings and put their players in a draft. 4 divisions with 6 teams each. Trust me, no one in those cities would even notice that the teams disappeared.

Frankly, I'm not a big supporter of hockey south of the Mason-Dixon line but the Stars, Ducks, Sharks, and Hurricanes seem to do decent enough.

[Rbrtkln]

I dunno, although hockey doesn't seem to belong in Phoenix, there must have been a reason they moved out of Winnipeg to begin with.

[SEMIweather]

I dunno, although hockey doesn't seem to belong in Phoenix, there must have been a reason they moved out of Winnipeg to begin with.

Which is why we need to contract some teams.

[Removed_Member_starsinmysky_*]

Which is why we need to contract some teams.

Yep John, and your list of teams to contract is right on the money. I think I would combine the Sharks and Kings as well and keep the combined team in Los Angeles, because LA is well LA. The extra players from those 2 teams would then be put into a draft.

Unfortunately, the NHL won't do that right now. For the last 15 years, the NHL has been a mess. What the sport needs is exposure. Put the playoffs on ESPN and NBC because not all people have Versus.

[TJ Schulte]

I dunno, although hockey doesn't seem to belong in Phoenix, there must have been a reason they moved out of Winnipeg to begin with.

Absolutely terrible owner, a lot of problems with people who owned the arena and a tiny market. I will say though with okay management they will easily fill up that arena every night with a very strong fan base.

[hckyplayer8]

Yep John, and your list of teams to contract is right on the money. I think I would combine the Sharks and Kings as well and keep the combined team in Los Angeles, because LA is well LA. The extra players from those 2 teams would then be put into a draft.

Unfortunately, the NHL won't do that right now. For the last 15 years, the NHL has been a mess. What the sport needs is exposure. Put the playoffs on ESPN and NBC because not all people have Versus.

Anything but ESPN. They have the absolute, worst announcers ever. Period. I don't mind it being broadcasted on VS. With VS having no contract to sole rights to any sport but the IRL, I have never been able to watch so much hockey before.

Ever since the lockout, major broadcasting channels have ignored the nhl and I don't blame them.

[SEMIweather]

Anything but ESPN. They have the absolute, worst announcers ever. Period. I don't mind it being broadcasted on VS. With VS having no contract to sole rights to any sport but the IRL, I have never been able to watch so much hockey before.

Ever since the lockout, major broadcasting channels have ignored the nhl and I don't blame them.

I agree. This is the #1 reason why I want the NCAA tournament to stay on CBS, even though ESPN could broadcast more than one game at once. The thought of Dickie V calling an NCAA tournament game literally makes me sick to my stomach.

[Removed_Member_starsinmysky_*]

Anything but ESPN. They have the absolute, worst announcers ever. Period. I don't mind it being broadcasted on VS. With VS having no contract to sole rights to any sport but the IRL, I have never been able to watch so much hockey before.

Ever since the lockout, major broadcasting channels have ignored the nhl and I don't blame them.

I agree. This is the #1 reason why I want the NCAA tournament to stay on CBS, even though ESPN could broadcast more than one game at once. The thought of Dickie V calling an NCAA tournament game literally makes me sick to my stomach.

I disagree with the both of you. The NHL acted much too hastily and acted in a greedy fashion IMO in their actions by abandoning broadcast negotiations with ESPN to go over to Versus. We all know that ESPN/ESPN2 has a larger destribution with providers. Versus is seen in less homes than ESPN is. Versus has seen its share of problems. Comcast owns Versus and back in 2005, fought with Cablevision. Comcast wanted Versus to be an pemier network. Cablevision refused. So hockey programming was replaced on Cablevision by other programming. It was believed that the reason behind these blackouts had to do with a penalty fee that Comcast would have had to pay the NHL if they did not significantly increase their distribution.

ESPN back in 2005 didn't choose to match OLN's (now Versus) offer of $200 million for 3 years for the NHL US's cable rights. Versus and the NHL extended the deal throughout the 2010-2011 season.

To the announcers. They weren't that bad. Here is a list of them.

Gary Thorne-Bill Clement and John Davidson
Steve Levy-Barry Melrose and Darren Pang
Joe Beninati-Neil Smith
Dave Strader-Brian Engblom
Sean McDonough-Ray Ferraro or Ed Olczyk

Thorne is excellent IMO. I love Clement. Both Engblom and Olczyk are pretty good. I love Melrose and I like Pang.

The point is that keeping the games on ESPN would have given the sport more exposure. Broadcasting the games in HD for those customers also would have brought the sport more exposure. Unfortunately, hockey has its place as America's 4th sport.

[hckyplayer8]

I disagree with the both of you. The NHL acted much too hastily and acted in a greedy fashion IMO in their actions by abandoning broadcast negotiations with ESPN to go over to Versus. We all know that ESPN/ESPN2 has a larger destribution with providers. Versus is seen in less homes than ESPN is. Versus has seen its share of problems. Comcast owns Versus and back in 2005, fought with Cablevision. Comcast wanted Versus to be an pemier network. Cablevision refused. So hockey programming was replaced on Cablevision by other programming. It was believed that the reason behind these blackouts had to do with a penalty fee that Comcast would have had to pay the NHL if they did not significantly increase their distribution.

ESPN back in 2005 didn't choose to match OLN's (now Versus) offer of $200 million for 3 years for the NHL US's cable rights. Versus and the NHL extended the deal throughout the 2010-2011 season.

To the announcers. They weren't that bad. Here is a list of them.

Gary Thorne-Bill Clement and John Davidson
Steve Levy-Barry Melrose and Darren Pang
Joe Beninati-Neil Smith
Dave Strader-Brian Engblom
Sean McDonough-Ray Ferraro or Ed Olczyk

Thorne is excellent IMO. I love Clement. Both Engblom and Olczyk are pretty good. I love Melrose and I like Pang.

The point is that keeping the games on ESPN would have given the sport more exposure. Broadcasting the games in HD for those customers also would have brought the sport more exposure. Unfortunately, hockey has its place as America's 4th sport.

Ask NASCAR what happens when you are part of the ABC/ESPN broadcast. Once your time slot is up, you get cut for a rerun of Americas Funniest Home Video's, even though the event is not yet over. Pathetic. Never was a fan of ABC/ESPN and never will be.

The only announcers worth anything are Clement and Thorne.

[TJ Schulte]

Ask NASCAR what happens when you are part of the ABC/ESPN broadcast. Once your time slot is up, you get cut for a rerun of Americas Funniest Home Video's, even though the event is not yet over. Pathetic. Never was a fan of ABC/ESPN and never will be.

The only announcers worth anything are Clement and Thorne.

Speaking of that why doesn't Fox start broadcasting hockey? They already have Fox Sports Net broadcast each game for the majority of the teams and Fox doesn't have any sports on Saturdays during hockey season. Fox should pick up hockey.

Also I don't see what the deal is with ESPN showing hockey. Their coverage wasn't too bad and I could see hockey highlights without having to go to TSN or something.

Btw, TSN is prolly the greatest tv station ever

[Removed_Member_starsinmysky_*]

Speaking of that why doesn't Fox start broadcasting hockey? They already have Fox Sports Net broadcast each game for the majority of the teams and Fox doesn't have any sports on Saturdays during hockey season. Fox should pick up hockey.

Also I don't see what the deal is with ESPN showing hockey. Their coverage wasn't too bad and I could see hockey highlights without having to go to TSN or something.

Btw, TSN is prolly the greatest tv station ever

Fox could pick up hockey. Yes, Saturdays are pretty much vacated during hockey season. But Fox is known much more for its baseball and football coverage.

I agree with you on ESPN. ESPN was foolish for not renewing its contract with the NHL. I think the blackout hurt a lot. That could be one of the main reasons besides viewership that the NHL decided to abandon its negotiations with ESPN. Their coverage was pretty good. ESPN is a major platform for sports. But Versus has the rights to the NHL until 2011. Nothing against Versus, but it's an network that is not broadcast in all homes.

[mmi16]

ESPN has become a cartoon of a sports station. Since the have become affiliated with Disney/ABC they have come to believe the press clipping that they write; and believe they are above it all. Back in the day when they were a struggling new network and trying to make a name for themselves they did some good work. Now, they believe their own hype and think they are the news makers...not reporters.