NHL, Balsillie Agree On Nothing As Baum Heads To Vacation

Neither side can agree on whether or not Richard Rodier can be in attendance for the depositions of Gary Bettman and Bill Daly. The other issue they can't agree on is the amount of documents the NHL can get from Balsillie and Moyes.

Rodier ((pictured, thanks Nathan Dennette/CP)) does, however, get to hang out while Bettman and Daly are questioned, but whether or not he can hang while Balsillie is grilled will be left up to the judge.

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

Daryl Jones did not offer any update on negotiations with the City of Glendale on a new arena lease, which is a condition of their bid. Ice Edge says it will offer $150-million (all currency U.S.) for the team.

More than 60 documents, some as long as 100 pages, were filed with the court over the last three days. There were charges and counter-charges over whether Moyes and Balsillie conspired to drive away other bidders for the Coyotes and whether Moyes, Balsillie or both tried to funnel confidential information to a conservative watchdog group that may sue Glendale if it thinks too much public money was paid to subsidize the Coyotes through a new arena lease.

Moyes and Balsillie, who has offered $212.5-million, maintain the NHL’s actions are all driven by its opposition to Balsillie’s plans to move the team to Hamilton. One of their filings pointed out that Judge Baum himself wondered about this when he mused at a hearing that “the court has the firm sense that if the only issue here was [Balsillie] purchasing the Phoenix Coyotes [without relocation] there would be no objection from the NHL.”

The filing also questioned the NHL governors’s rejection of Balsillie’s ownership application on grounds of character. A long list of current and former NHL owners who had their own troubles was presented.

The NHL accused Moyes of being a puppet of Balsillie and Rodier, going along with their strategy to use the bankruptcy laws to force a move in order to get the most money he could from the sale.

Moyes...??? A puppet...???
Not really... trying to recoup his losses by any means necessary is more like it...

Carrie Watters and Rebekah Sanders of the Arizona Republic try to present the relationship, if any, between the Goldwater Institute and Balsillie's group...

"I've never heard of Richard Rodier before, and neither has anyone else at the Goldwater Institute that I'm aware of," Goldwater attorney Carrie Ann Sitren said.

Rodier said, "I have never had any contact whatsoever with anyone from the Goldwater Institute. All I know is what I read in the paper."

They also present the idea that Balsillie's bid is scaring away other possible bidders from entering the fray.

OSG HQ would recommend that a $212.5-million bid is just serious, where the Reinsdorf bid isn't and the Ice Edge bid has too many holes as they reach judge Baum's deadlines...

Rodier Still Able To Represent Balsillie For Now...

Here's the highlights of David Shoalts article from Tuesday's Globe and Mail getting us all revved up for the next round of Balsillie and the NHL going at each other's throats...

Basically, judge Redfield T. Baum hasn't ruled on the idea that the NHL wants Jim Balsillie's lawyer, Richard Rodier, as far away from the courtroom when depositions and cross-examinations begin- since Rodier is on the cross list himself.

We get that... but it's the NHL's fault for putting Rodier's name on the list in the first place. A sneaky ploy, but those of us at OSG HQ don't see it working...

Balsillie still wants to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario for the 09-10 season, but NHL associate commissioner Bill Daly has a point about travel and violating the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If Balsillie is awarded the Coyotes in court, he needs to take the victory and the write-off for one season.

If MakeItSeven made a point to let the Goldwater Institute in on some of the details of the bidding process and the NHL documents, that's good on the first part and not-so-good on the other. We know Goldwater is a public watchdog, but FOIA requests should take care of those details...

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

Judge Redfield T. Baum did not issue an immediate ruling on whether Jim Balsillie’s chief legal strategist, Richard Rodier, would be barred from taking part in the questioning of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and other league executives but the league kept the pressure on the would-be buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Late Tuesday afternoon, after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing about Rodier ((pictured, thanks Nathan Denette/CP)) and about the NHL’s request for a large amount of documents from Balsillie and Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes, the league asked the court to rule that no matter who wins the auction for the Coyotes on Sept. 10, that the team cannot be moved from suburban Glendale for the 2009-10 season.

The NHL’s lawyers told the court “the NHL schedule has been finalized and released; previously ‘open dates’ in NHL arenas have been filled with other events; television schedules of both the league’s national broadcast partners and the other 29 member clubs’ local broadcast partners have been finalized; travel and hotel arrangements have been made; and ticket packages have been created and are being marketed and sold.”

The argument was backed up by a lengthy statement from NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. He argued against the move on a number of fronts from scheduling problems to television contracts to travel bookings. For example, Daly said, the league would be in violation of the collective agreement with the players if it allowed the move because of the problem of back-to-back games switching from Glendale to a city thousands of miles away.

The collective agreement, Daly said, “precludes teams from having to travel more than two and one-half hours on the day of a game, and from having to travel on Christmas. The Los Angeles Kings are currently scheduled to play the Coyotes on December 26. If this game were moved to Hamilton, the Kings would have to make a transcontinental flight on the day of the game in violation of the [agreement].”

Earlier, the NHL asked for a large volume of documents and e-mail messages concerning a wide range of issues, going back to Balsillie’s aborted purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006. Balsillie’s lawyers complained this was too broad and that the “NHL is obsessed with finding documents establishing that [Balsillie] and [Moyes] ‘conspired’ to use the bankruptcy laws to suit their respective purposes. This court has already told the NHL that ‘financially challenged sports teams’ have the right to utilize the bankruptcy laws.”

The NHL argued that Rodier should not be allowed to attend any depositions of its personnel because he himself will be examined by the league’s lawyers. People who are being examined can be excluded from sitting in on the examinations of others under U.S. bankruptcy law, the league’s filing said.

Bettman, Daly and Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs are scheduled to be questioned by lawyers for Balsillie and Moyes beginning Thursday. Rodier will be examined next week.

On the documents issue, the league is apparently trying to prove suspicions that Balsillie and his lawyers were helping The Goldwater Institute, a conservative watchdog group, in a potential lawsuit against the City of Glendale. It requested a long list of e-mails between Balsillie, Rodier, Moyes and others.

Peddie Not To Be Questioned In Coyotes Case

((HT: TSN/CP))

Maple Leafs Sports and Enteratinment President Richard Peddie will not get the spotlight in the face in the Coyotes interrogation room as part of the bankruptcy proceedings around a new ownership group.

So sayeth judge Redfield Baum. But NHL Commish Gary Bettman gets Q-and-A along with Associate Commish Bill Daly, Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Wild owner Craig Leipold.

The judge also authorized a deposition from "an unnamed, but to be disclosed, NHL representative regarding the impossibility of relocating the Coyotes for the current season."

We're guessing some schedule-maker...

Baum ordered the NHL, over the league's objections, to provide numerous documents related to relocation -- material that Balsillie's lawyers say is necessary for his bid to proceed.

Baum said the league must produce any NHL study of expansion into the Hamilton market in the past 10 years, and it must disclose all expansion and relocation fees it has charged since 1999.

The league contends the relocation issue is moot because its board of governors rejected Balsillie as an owner. But, those of us at OSG HQ would contend some of Ice Edge Holdings ideas of five regular season and even more playoff games would side-door some relocation issues.

Meanwhile, the judge set up bid procedures and a schedule leading up to the Sept. 10 auction. Today is the deadline for applications from bidders to keep the team in Glendale. Formal bids need to be completed by the 25th.

Translation: Ice Edge needs to get its head out of its paperwork and get the bid squared away if they're to be taken seriously...

Balsillie, his attorney Richard Rodier, and Jerry Moyes are getting questioned by the NHL.

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...???"

Dell Sides With Reinsdorf In Coyotes Bid

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

Like we said, the hearing Tuesday in US Bankruptcy Court, would be a doozy.

It was, for an intersting reason.

Just when you thought the players had aligned with their appropriate dance partners, it has all changed. The Balsillie camp, which thought they had the best finaincial package for all the debtors wanting cash with Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes, lost Michael Dell.

Adam Klein, the main lawyer for Jerry Reinsdorf ((pictured, thanks Jonathan Daniel/Getty)), was ready to pack up all their toys and leave. But then Klein and Reinsdorf got an ally in Dell/SOF Investments.

Dell's lawyer, Steven Abramowitz, said Reinsdorf agreed “to a substantial pay down and rollover of the remainder of the debt.” So much for the $80-million being paid in full by Balsillie.

"If Reinsdorf can now reach an agreement with Glendale on a new arena lease, Abramowitz said, “we will support his bid.” "

The Balsillie camp, understandably, had to put something of a positive spin on everything:

Cue the attorney...Richard Rodier...

“It’s like I said a long time ago, bankruptcy is a funny process,” he said. “There are ups, downs and sideways. You can’t get too hepped up about the highs and too down about the lows.”

But, Rodier admitted, “it’s a theoretical possibility” that Balsillie could be knocked out of the bidding on Sept. 2 if the judge sides with the NHL. “But I don’t want to speculate on that.”

So, what about Daryl Jones, Ice Edge, and their unfinished bid...?

“We feel great about both our financing and negotiations with the City of Glendale,” Jones said in an e-mail message.

Sounds concrete... bring on September 2nd...

That's the date in Baum's datebook where everyone decides whether or not Jim Balsillie is fit to be an owner once and for all...

That is, until the appeals process...

Breslow Named As Investor In Ice Edge's Coyotes Bid

((HT: Arizona Republic/Watters))

A former employee of Jim Balsillie’s company is part of an investment group that intends to bid on the Coyotes in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

A coincidence is how representatives for Ice Edge Holdings, LLC described Anthony LeBlanc’s connection to the man who attempted to move the team to Canada.

Meanwhile, the group, which on Friday filed a letter of intent to bid up to $150 million for the Coyotes, also named John Breslow among its investors. The Las Vegas resident is a minority owner in the franchise and has served as chairman of Coyotes Charities.

Anthony LeBlanc would act as chief executive of the Coyotes if the group’s bid wins. The Ottawa, Canada resident is a former vice president of global sales for Research in Motion, the maker of Blackberry wireless.

Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research in Motion, rankled Phoenix hockey fans when he offered $212.5 million to purchase the bankrupt Coyotes and relocate the team to Hamilton, Ontario.

A bankruptcy judge set Balsillie's offer aside until it is determined if a buyer willing to keep the team in Glendale can be found. Ice Edge Holdings is among two investment groups to come forward.

Daryl Jones, who has been speaking on behalf of the group, previously told The Arizona Republic he never met Balsillie, but declined to name all of the investors in his group.

On Saturday, Jones confirmed LeBlanc as a partner and his connection to Balsillie after a Canadian news report surfaced. Jones said he wanted to downplay the connection because it in no way influenced his group's interest in the team.

"There's a reason we didn't want this to get out. We just don't think it's relevant to the story," Jones said.

The group’s known investors now include: LeBlanc, Breslow, Jones and Keith McCullough, who works with Jones at a Connecticut-based investment research firm, Research Edge. Coyotes coach and minority owner Wayne Gretzky and others also may become partners, Jones said.

Jones called LeBlanc’s nine-year employment at Research in Motion a "non-starter" and a "strange coincidence."

LeBlanc left the company less than a year ago, he said.

Balsillie's attorney Richard Rodier called it "entirely coincidental," as well. He said Balsillie's group has not communicated with LeBlanc on his efforts to acquire the team.

Jones said Ice Edge Holding's intent is "100 percent" to keep the team in Arizona for the long haul. "We would be having absolutely no plans to leave," Jones said.

He also discounted speculation by a Canadian radio show that the Coyotes could play some of their games in Hamilton. "This is a Phoenix franchise. This is not a Hamilton franchise," Jones said. An auction of the team is Aug. 5, but the deadline to submit bids was Friday.

Jones' group missed that deadline, saying they only began exploring the team's finances three weeks ago. The group did file its intent to bid, and Jones said a detailed offer should be in place by the auction.

The only completed bid for up to $148 million came from Glendale Hockey, LLC, which includes sports mogul Jerry Reinsdorf, Valley attorney John Kaites and former sports executive Tony Tavares.

((Jobing.com arena is pictured, thanks Carlos Chavez/Arizona Republic))

Baum: NHL Entitled To Relo Fee

((HT: TSN/CP))

Bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum believes the NHL is entitled to a fee for the right to put a team in Hamilton, and that unknown number is crucial to his decision on the fate of the Phoenix Coyotes.

His statement, coming during a combative and entertaining court hearing today in Phoenix, ran counter to arguments made by lawyers for Jim Balsillie that no fee is owed.

Balsillie has bid US$212.5 million for the insolvent Coyotes on the condition he move it to Hamilton -- something the league is against.

The relocation fee would take away money available to pay off creditors and Baum said that if that left them worse off, he would reject Balsillie's bid.

The issue, he said, was determining that amount and he chastised both sides for leaving the matter unresolved.

Baum liked the idea of mediating the matter but was concerned there's not enough time to get it done.

Baum said identifying the fee would perhaps cause Balsillie to either accept it or prompt him to walk away, allowing for a solution without having to solve the more complex issues.

The hearing is continuing in a Phoenix courtroom.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is attending the hearing along with deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes and Balsillie's lawyer Richard Rodier ((pictured, thanks CP)) are also attending the hearing. Balsillie is not in attendance.

It's not clear when Baum will make a decision.

Here We Go Again...? Balsillie To Buy Preds... Maybe...

On "Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown" Monday afternoon, McCown had his normal roundtable discussions with David Shoalts and Stephen Brunt- or just "Brunt" as McCown calls him on the air. The program is heard throughout Canada on the Fan Radio Networks and is simulcast on Rogers Sportsnet.

A good reason for a Slingbox for a friend north of the border...

McCown had it through his sources that Research in Motion co-founder/Blackberry God Jim Balsillie ((pictured, thanks Getty Images)) was about to buy the NHL's Nashville Predators- again.

The segment can be found in black...

Balsillie's lawyer, Richard Rodier, flatly denied any talk of the sort to Rogers Sportsnet's HockeyCentral program later in the day.

"There is not a scintilla of truth in this report," Rodier told HockeyCentral. "This fell out of the sky."

Reports vary as to the amount of interest Balsillie has in the Preds. It could be the 20-percent stake that William "Boots" Del Biaggio has as part of his holdings that are awaiting bankruptcy divisions, or the whole thing- which would, again, renew the interest of an entire province in the idea of hockey expansion.

Which is where is really needs to be...
You'll know more as we know more...