Coyotes President Fired By... The NHL...

Interesting punch line there...

Since Ice Edge Holdings isn't in charge of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team yet, and the NHL still is, President Doug Moss was fired by the "League" and not by the team.

Since the league runs the team, that's how this went down...
Odd...

Did this go off with the blessing of Ice Edge as some kind of a suck-up move to the league, or did Ice Edge maintain this was something they wanted to do in blowing up Moss and bringing in Mike Nealy to take over the position- short term or long term...

Nothing like getting your pink slip before the end of your deal by Bill Daly.

"Doug did a lot of good things for the Coyotes' franchise during his tenure with the club, and I know he will do well in the future," Daly told Jim Gintonio and Rebekah Sanders of the Arizona Republic. "We just thought it was time to instill new leadership and some fresh ideas on the business side of the operation, and we believe that Mike Nealy is the right person to do that."

"The NHL has entrusted me to have a fresh look at some things and carry it forward," Nealy said.

Right... just in time for free agent frenzy tomorrow...
Daly denies the coincidence...

The HQ guesses the video below was Moss' last move as President, the drafting of Brandon Gormley in the 2010 Entry Draft...
((HT: TSN/NHL))


Just axin'...
What happens if this deal was done independent of Ice Edge...???
More when we know more...

If Balsillie's Going Down, He's Taking Everyone With Him

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

Who is the one guy ((and the one organization)) that you really don't want to piss off in a proceeding where you're trying to become a member of a very exclusive club...???

If you answered Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment's Richard Peddie ((pictured, with Leafs GM Brian Burke, thanks Getty Images file)) and the Toronto Maple Leafs, you get a gold star.

Those are the two groups that Research in Motion's Jim Balsillie is trying to throw in his list for deposition as we get closer to the September 2nd viability hearing for Balsillie's bid for the Phoenix Coyotes in US Bankruptcy Court.

From the David Shoalts' article...

"His lawyers’ request said Balsillie “believes that, notwithstanding the NHL’s pretextual arguments, the Maple Leafs are trying to block [Balsillie’s] purchase of the Coyotes in order to prevent a Hamilton relocation and competition with the Maple Leafs in Southern Ontario.”

Lawyers for Balsillie and Moyes want to grill Peddie about the Leafs’ motives. They also want to question Bettman, Daly, Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold.

Balsillie’s legal team also demanded a series of NHL documents. The team wants documents concerning all franchise transfers, expansions and relocation fees since 1990, gate receipts for all teams located relatively close to one another, hockey-related revenue statements since 2005, and all documents relating to the possibility of another team coming to Southern Ontario."

The NHL has agreed to having Gary Bettman deposed in addition to deputy commish Bill Daly and two owners to be named later. Balsillie wants Bettman, Daly, Peddie, the Wild's Craig Leipold and the Bruins' Jeremy Jacobs.

Leipold's inclusion would be to set the basis for the Balsillie-Predators partnership that fizzled and to address Leipold's amount of pissdom after Balsillie went ahead and atttached the Predators logo to some Hamilton, Ontario ideas to gauge season ticket interest.

There is an inherent belief, in the Balsillie camp, that Peddie and MLSE are behind a "veto" idea of bringing another franchise into southern Ontario.

The NHL wants to depose Balsillie, his attorney Richard Rodier, Jerry Moyes, Moyes' lawayer Earl Scudder, and Coyotes CEO Doug Moss. Those of us at OSG HQ are not thinking that Scudder and Rodier will get questioned because of attorney-client privilege. Moss gets to discuss the state of the franchise when Moyes wanted to declare bankruptcy.

All this to get in to the club...???
And in the end, you have to ask if it's really worth it in the end...
Or, as some close to OSG HQ have declared:

"Why don't they just get a ruler out and get it over with...???"

Coyotes Deny NHL in Control of Team

((HT: Arizona Republic/Craig Harris))

The NHL, which loaned the Coyotes ((pictured, thanks David Kadlubowski/Arizona Republic)) money in February to keep the team in business, is now running the franchise and has promised Glendale that it would reimburse the city for parking fees and security costs owed by the team, Glendale City Manager Ed Beasley said.

"The NHL is in charge of the team right now," Beasley said. "We have assurances from the NHL the money will be paid. . . . We are sitting down with the NHL and working confidentially with them, and the city expects to be paid in full."

Coyotes President Doug Moss refuted that report late Wednesday night, saying the league has not assumed control of the Coyotes.

"We are not reporting to the league," he said. "We report to (owner) Jerry Moyes. I'm dealing with things in my area, the business side, and Donnie (General Manager Don Maloney) is dealing with the hockey side.

"It's business as usual. He's preparing for the draft. I'm preparing for next year on marketing and sales."

The NHL has helped other financially challenged teams, and since the 1980s it has loaned money to franchises in Dallas, Buffalo, New York, Tampa, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Hartford, according to publicly filed financial statements. However, having a league operate one of its own franchises is rare in professional sports.

Beasley said the NHL started running the team around the time the rent payment was made in late February. It remains unclear what role the NHL has in operating the franchise.

In August, the Coyotes stopped paying the city rent, parking fees and most of its security costs at Jobing.com Arena, according to Glendale city records. The city was paid nearly $351,000 for past-due rent on Feb. 25, the day after the NHL agreed to loan the team an unspecified amount.

As part of the loan agreement, the league had the right to take over the franchise if NHL loan was not paid.

"We have been told from the NHL that they are responsible for the team," Beasley said.

Beasley declined to say how much was owed in parking fees and security cost at Jobing.com Arena, home of the Coyotes.

City records show that over the past four years, from August to April - the current time frame the city has not been paid - the Coyotes paid Glendale from $577,000 to nearly $2.5 million for parking and security costs.

Most of that comes from parking fees the team collects as a surcharge on ticket sales, which allows those attending events at the arena to park for free.