Waddell Dismisses Thrashers Move

((HT: AJC/Chris Vivlamore))

Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said the NHL franchise will not be moving any time soon.

A Canadian newspaper reported Saturday that a Vancouver-based group is interested in buying the Thrashers and moving them to Hamilton, Ontario ((Copps Coliseum pictured, thanks Doug Pensinger/Allsport)).

“There is no truth to it,” Waddell said Saturday night. “We are not a movable franchise. I have talked to our owners, and no one has had contact with any group.”

Waddell cited several reasons the Thrashers won’t move. The Atlanta Spirit is currently involved in litigation with co-owner Steve Belkin that must be resolved. The naming rights to Philips Arena are tied to it housing both an NHL and an NBA franchise. Also, according to Waddell, the ownership group signed a commitment letter to the league to keep the team in Atlanta a specified number of years. Waddell would not disclose the number of years left on the letter but said it was “multiple.”

“I’ve been through this so many times, but the truth is there are too many obstacles,” Waddell said.

The Hamilton Spectator reported that a group is interested in buying the team and relocating it in time for the 2010-11 season.

The newspaper also reported that there are rumors that several other groups are interested in bringing a team to Hamilton.

According to the paper, the city is already working on a proposed lease of the Copps Coliseum to billionaire Jim Balsillie, who hopes to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to the city for the 2009-10 season.

The Globe and Mail's David Shoalts reports that Nelson Skalbania may be a part of the Gagliardi group looking to pick up the franchise.

"Gaglardi, who is president of Northland Properties, a family-owned company that operates a chain of hotels and restaurants, is said to want to move the Thrashers to Hamilton by the 2010-11 season. He could not be reached for comment and Skalbania, now involved in real estate in Vancouver, refused to comment.

"I'm in the Napa Valley right now drinking wine," Skalbania said Saturday afternoon. "I have zero comment. Goodbye."

But sources in the investment banking community say Skalbania has been eyeing the Thrashers for some time."

"Skalbania, 61, has a checkered history not only with the NHL but also in the business world. He gained fame in the late 1970s when he bought several sports teams, including the Atlanta Flames, which he moved to Calgary in 1979. He was also known for selling a teenaged Wayne Gretzky from his Indianapolis Racers in the now-defunct World Hockey Association to his friend Peter Pocklington, who owned the Edmonton Oilers.

However, Skalbania flamed out in 1982 in a spectacular bankruptcy which saw him lose all of his businesses. He then was hired by his creditors to rebuild some of them.

Skalbania managed to work his way back to solvency and even bought the B.C. Lions of the CFL in 1996. But that venture soon collapsed and he lost the team. One year later, Skalbania was convicted on a charge of stealing $100,000 from a real-estate partner but avoided jail time by going on parole and wearing an electronic monitor for almost a year."