Judge Rejects Both Bids for Coyotes

Anyway, this also means former coach and hockey uber-star Wayne Gretzky is gone, and Gretzky took the NHL’s story as an opportunity to deliver his parting words:

The Phoenix Coyotes released a statement that somehow manages to put Gretzky’s time with the organization in a positive light:

Those were indeed some great examples he set. I can’t imagine anybody who wouldn’t want to follow in the footsteps of a guy who makes $8 million a year yet wasn’t required to be at all successful.

At 3PM MST, the Coyotes will announce Dave Tippett as Wayne Gretzky’s replacement behind the Phoenix bench, reports TSN’s Bob McKenzie via Twitter.

Tippett had previously coached the Dallas Stars for six seasons, until the end of the 2008-09 season. He compiled an impressive 271-156-28-37 record with the Stars, but was fired after missing the playoffs for the first time last season.

OdinMercer at SB Nation’s Coyotes blog Five for Howling sends along his thoughs on Gretzky stepping down:

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski sees Gretzky’s departure more as a new beginning, not so much as the end of an era:

But can anyone honestly blame Gretzky for staying on as coach for so long? When you’re still getting paid $8 million a year to coach one of the worst teams in hockey after three years of nothing but failure, it’s only natural that you’re tempted to test your luck by staying. Or even to just start not showing up at all.

From Wayne Gretzky’s official website:

Breaking news via a series of tweets from Brahm Resnik, a news anchor and reporter in Arizona:

Apparently, a press release from the team is coming soon.

Ballsilie had never clearly said he would move the Coyotes to Canada this season, but clarifying that he’s not crazy enough to move a team less than two weeks before the season begins is reassuring.

The mediation hearing is a good thing for Jim Ballsilie’s bid, which had been pushing for external mediation for some time.

The red tape continues to get thicker and thicker.

Jim Ballsilie’s hopes of absconding to Ontario with the Phoenix Coyotes were dealt a slight blow Wednesday, as the Glendale City Council expressed its support for the NHL’s bid for the team.

Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes was not nearly as supportive of keeping the team in Glendale:

Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic has an interesting take on the Wayne Gretzky situation in Phoenix. Bickley feels “The Great One” should be in camp with his team and he makes a strong case as to why.

Bickley makes a very good point and makes plenty of sense. It does look like Gretzky is being selfish in this ordeal. It will be interesting to see how the players feel about him, if and when he comes back to the team.

When the auction for the Phoenix Coyotes ended Friday without resolution, the hope was that Judge Baum would come to a decision sooner than later. Jim Balsillie’s lawyers had originally put a September 21 deadline on any decision, but that request was lifted at the behest of the court.

Right now it appears that the earliest we might have a court ruling on the case would be sometime in the middle of next week. Even then, there is no guarantee that either bid would be accepted; Judge Baum has hinted several times that the bids from the NHL and Balsillie might be thrown out if he’s not satisfied with either side.

Amid the uncertainty surrounding the Phoenix Coyotes’ ownership and financial situation, head coach Wayne Gretzky opted to stay away from Jobing.com Arena today as players reported for the first day of training. Gretzky, who’s current annual salary is $8 million and twice that of any other NHL coach, is unsure of his status as head coach after learning that if the NHL purchases the team his contract won’t be included in the sale.

I can’t even imagine what the players must be going through during all this. No coach, no owner and nothing but questions surrounding your organization. But it’s the fans (yes, there are Coyotes fans) that are paying for this the most.

NHL lawyers just laid out a bombshell in the courtroom: When asked by Judge Baum if coach Wayne Gretzky’s large salary was covered by the NHL’s bid, the reponse was “no.” This means that if the NHL is granted ownership, then the NHL plans on replacing “The Great One” as head coach of the Coyotes.

Balsillie’s lawyers have asked for a recess in order to amend their bid. Glendale officials say they will decide on the $50 million payment by Wednesday, September 21, a bid that has already been denied unofficially by the city.

PSE amended their bid, officially making the $50 million offer to the city of Glendale as payment for immediate relocation. Balsillie’s total bid is $242 million.

The NHL’s offer stayed at $140 million, but has been amended a bit to include an $18 million offer to the estate of Jerry Moyes and waives secured debt worth $30 million.

Court proceedings continued today as both sides stated their arguments in favor of a sale to either bidder for control of the Phoenix Coyotes. It was a testy affair, as lawyers threw jabs at the other side in a constant effort to discredit their counterpart.

One of the more talked about statements from the day came when one of the NHL’s lawyers said, “There are more hockey fans in the U.S. than the entire population of Canada.” Unsure of the validity of that claim, but it’s a bold one.

Toronto Maple Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets examines an open letter written by Hamilton businessman Gabe Macaluso, in which he claims the Maple Leafs were trying to muscle Hamilton out of bidding on the team.

In the conclusion of their piece (which is definitely worth taking the time to read), they casts some doubt on Macaluso’s credibility:

From The Rink writer James Mirtle compares the case of the Denver Rockies relocating to New Jersey in 1982 to the current situation of the Phoenix Coyotes, finding some pretty telling parallels between the two scenarios:

Of course, the Devils also faced talk of relocation about 10 years after they got to New Jersey, which Glendale advocates might want to bring up when looking for reasons to bring Hamilton’s viability as a long term NHL locale.

The Phoenix Coyotes find themselves today in bankruptcy court, being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

As expected, only two bids have been made. One was placed by the NHL, which would keep the team in Glendale until they can find an owner. The second bid comes from Jim Balsillie, who would move the team to Hamilton, Ontario.

If Jim Balsillie is successful in acquiring the Phoenix Coyotes through bankruptcy proceedings, it appears that he will hire former Columbus Blue Jacket president and Florida Panther coach Doug MacLean as an advisor to his company according to Sportsnet.

I’ll leave it to you to be the judge of how smart Balsillie is given MacLean’s career record as a coach was a .487 winning percentage and his career as a front office executive hasn’t been much better as he posted a 172–258–62 record while running the Columbus Blue Jackets. Of course MacLean is best known for steering a young Florida Panthers team to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, only to be swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

Don McGowan of the National Post says the Coyotes auction scheduled for tomorrow morning could well be the start of new legal battles rather than an end to the saga.

Looks like the potential owner list for the Phoenix Coyotes is down to Jim Balsillie and the NHL.

In a court filing late Tuesday afternoon, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the third potential bidder, a group of Canadian and American businessmen known as Ice Edge LLC, told him they “do not currently intend to participate in the auction.“The auction will be held Friday, September 11th.

In his ongoing effort to land the Coyotes, Jim Balsille is now offering up to $50 million dollars to the city of Glendale.

If Glendale accepts, PSE will reduce the rest of its original $212.5 million bid by $20 million. The end result is an offer worth up to $242.4 million, but is still contingent on the ability to move the club to Hamilton.

Ice Edge Holdings became a big story a couple of weeks ago when they announced their plan to buy the Phoenix Coyotes. They were quickly pushed aside and the talk focused on Jerry Reinsdorf, the NHL and Jim Balsille. Five for Howling points out why everything might change on Tuesday.

Yet while no one was paying attention and focusing on NHL v. Balsillie a funny thing happened. Ice Edge actually became a serious contender in this thing. In fact they’ve apparently managed to get close to the one thing Jerry Moyes, and Jerry Reinsdorf failed to. A renegotiated lease with the City of Glendale.If Ice Edge can secure a lease with the city, it would be difficult for a judge to rule against them. Afterall, it is the easiest solution for the judge. It could please the NHL because the team will remain in Phoenix and Jim Balsille will not be able to complain of the NHL bias towards him.