Coyotes, Thrashers In Canada: Best NHL Story Since Sean Avery

Watching the courtroom drama and soap opera unfold around the Phoenix Coyotes and BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie is almost as much fun as following Sean Avery's comeback with the New York Rangers.

The latest news concerning the Coyotes and Balsillie also involves the Atlanta Thrashers, the NHL, and a second group in Toronto that wants an NHL team.

Here's the news in a nutshell:

1. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL controls Coyotes.

2. A North Toronto group wants Basillie to move Coyotes there, instead of Hamilton.

3. Hamilton wants the Atlanta Thrashers to move by 2010.

Posted on the NHL.com Web site, there is a transcript of what Daly said on XM Radio's "NHL Home Ice" show.
 
Daly said the NHL controls the Coyotes, so Jerry Moyes had no authority to put the team in bankruptcy, and there was no need to put the team in bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy court will decide that.

Daly said Balsillie's offer came out of left field, discussions between Balsillie and Moyes were conducted surreptitiously, and the NHL is not at all pleased.

He also says there have been at least three expressions of interest—"serious expressions of interest with serious money behind them"—to operate the Coyotes in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, 680 News says there is another group that wants Balsillie to get the Coyotes and move them to North Toronto.

Caroline Grech, writing in the Georgina Advocate, also reported that a group in Vaughan, just north of Toronto, remains determined to get a second NHL team for Toronto.

She reported that Vaughan Mayor Linda Jackson disclosed that she had been working on a proposal with a small group of local businesspeople and former Toronto Maple Leaf Kevin Maguire.

Grech gave voice to a Vaughan resident with hopes of having Bilsillie pick North Toronto over Hamilton as the permanent home of the franchise that was once the Winnipeg Jets and is now the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Hamilton Spectator reported that Hamilton is looking to take over the Atlanta Thrashers and move that team to Hamilton for 2010.