27-year-old Rick Rypien found dead on Monday

Rick Rypien

((ht: winnipegfreepress.com))

They haven't even played a game yet and the Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers are mourning the loss of a player.

27-year-old Rick Rypien was found dead Monday by a family member at or near his home in southern Alberta, Canada.

According to reports, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police say they don't believe the death was suspicious. For his part, Rypien had some demons that he was dealing with as well. He went on leave while with the Vancouver Canucks on 2 different occasions last season. He signed a contract July 4th, to play for the new team in Winnipeg.

According to an article in the Winnipeg Free Press, Rypien said his issues were personal, but not drugs, alcohol or substance abuse.

Read more from the Free Press RIGHT HERE

Rypien wasn't married, but was a cousin of former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien. There's no indication whether the incident is still under investigation. There also is no indications of funeral plans.

Our sympathies to the Rypien family.

Rypien's reputation in hockey was that of a scrappy little guy who wasn't afraid to mix it up with the bigger players or defend his teammates. He was apparently very well liked within the hockey community.

This is Rypien mixing it up with first a player, then a fan, which led to a suspension and eventually one of his absences in 2010.

From YouTube:

Spirit Still Hasn't Returned 2011 Ticket Deposits

((HT: WSB-TV Atlanta))

Consumer investigator Jim Strickland was thrust into the middle of a story that, some wished, already had an ending...

The HQ knows that, hopefully, the folks at True North Sports and Entertainment will give the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers a good home. But the ownership group that sold the franchise, Atlanta Spirit (a group lacking in representation of both), is apparently holding season ticket deposits as long as they can...

From the WSB report:
Strickland also discovered the team's former owners, Atlanta Spirit LLC, haven't posted an update on the Web for weeks.

According to the website, before fans can get a 100 percent refund for next season, the NHL governors still need to approve the sale.

That happened nearly a month ago.

June 21st, to be accurate...
Remember...??? Apparently, Spirit has conveniently...
((HT: Sun News Network/JHendrix70))


The rationale is easy to figure- other than the major idea that the ownership group is looking to grab any kind of interest-bearing payment they can to improve their bottom line- which, really, is business...

Plain business... it's selfish, boorish, and completely unprofessional in a market where the NBA franchise is still owned by what's left of their coffeurs...

But it's business...

The HQ gets it... but any kind emotional capital they thought they had left (which, really, wasn't much) may be out the window...

Enjoy that lockout... which, being business, will mean Spirit won't have to spend any money on any level...

2011 NHL Entry Draft Day One: Go Jets Go!

((HT: NHL on TSN/NHL/JHendrix70))

First, here's what unbridled enthusiasm sounds like...

This is how the official announcement came in from the True North folks on their new nickname...


Not that there isn't any coolness with bringing back the Jets or anything like that...

And, then, we go to pick 15 and the New York Rangers...
An absolutely class move by the Rangers in recognizing the late Derek Boogaard with his brother Aaron on stage...
((HT: Versus/TSN/NHL/youtube))


The draft continues today with Rounds Two through the end...

The Return of The Jets...???

((HT: Rogers Sportsnet))

According to Nick Kypreos of Hockeycentral, it appears the Winnipeg team will once again be known as the Jets when NHL hockey returns to the city next season.

"I'm told that it will be the Jets," Kypreos said Thursday. "Obviously, they (have) got to go with new colors and a new logo, but when it's all said and done, look for the Jets name to come back to Winnipeg."

It was originally believed that True North wanted to go in a different direction, but everyone is all fired up for the Jets.

"I really believe they didn't want to go in the direction of Winnipeg Jets or Manitoba Jets initially, but it's been overwhelming (response). Whether it's been the Twitter world or anything on the internet, people really want to see the Jets," Kypreos added.

Some reports suggest an announcement on the team name could come before the team makes its first-round selection at the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Here was the first salvo on ideas for the name...
Falcons, Manitoba-something, or all those other ideas...

Dave Hodge explains...
((HT: TSN/JHendrix70))


Either way, Claude Noel will be the new head coach of the team-to-be-named later with Randy Cunneyworth as the GM...

DEVELOPING: Desert Dogs Jetting North...???

((HT: Sportsnet Radio FAN 590))

Multiple sources are telling Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos & Doug MacLean that the Phoenix Coyotes will move to Winnipeg following their elimination from the 2010-11 NHL Playoffs.

More when we know more...

1400 UPDATE: Yahoo!Sports hockey writer Nick Cotsonika, on his Twitter feed, claims that NHL deputy commish Bill Daly is using the phrase "totally untrue" where the Kypreos-MacLean report is concerned...

Kypreos' update, from his feed, is that the Hulsizer deal with Glendale is "all but dead" and an announcement "could" come at the end of the Coyotes playoff run...

Glendale Still Blaming Goldwater

Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs is accusing Goldwater Institute of "significantly hindering" completion of the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to Matthew Hulsizer.

Again...

Scruggs made the accusation at a news conference saying the city has provided the institute with thousands of pages of documents- 400 pages of stuff since last week.

Here's a podcast of her presser where she didn't take any questions...

Again... interesting that it was posted on the Coyotes website...

Scruggs is also hot over the idea that Goldwater is telling any bond-rating agencies that the city's agreement on a new lease for the Coyotes violates the Arizona constitution, and to stay as far away from it as possible.

In response, the Goldwater Institute referred to an Op-Ed piece in Thursday's Arizona Republic by institute president Darcy Olsen saying it would be wrong to give Glendale "a free pass" to break state law.

From Olsen's Op-Ed:
According to Moody's, the credit-rating agency, Glendale's mounting debt already is triple the national median for cities of its size.

Is it any wonder that Moody's downgraded Glendale's debt when it caught wind of the city's plan to issue another $116 million in bonds? Moody's said the "municipal market faces credit pressure not seen since the Great Depression." I suppose Moody's should back off, too.

Here's an interview TSN's Geno Reda had with Winnipeg Free Press Writer Gary Lawless on the latest salvo in she said-they said from Reda's "That's Hockey"...
((HT: TSN/youtube))


Remember, Goldwater is also exposing the review of the bond benefits by TL Hocking on jobing.com arena as a shenanigan since the publicly-funded arena that hosts the CHL's Arizona Sundogs is turning out not to meet financial expectations, either.

Hocking wrote that report...

Round 3: PHX To WPG- Glendale Approves Lease Agreements

Thanks to Darren Pang for the heads-up on this...

Two lease proposals for the Phoenix Coyotes given to the Glendale City Council earlier this week have been approved- both from Ice Edge and Jerry Reinsdorf.

Ice Edge CEO Anthony LeBlanc also says they have hired former Arizona attorney general Grant Woods to finalize their lease agreement with the city of Glendale.

In an e-mail to The AP, LeBlanc quoted Mark Twain in saying, "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"- alluding to the notion that Ice Edge's funding is shaky at best...

Sources close to the Coyotes' situation believe Glendale may run out of time before it can decide on a lease that works for the city and franchise since the NHL has said they're not renewing their lease agreement after June 2010.

Here's FOSG James Cybulski talking about the whole "Return of the Coyotes to The Peg" idea that The Bettman floated last summer...
((HT: TSN))

Let's Try This Again: Coyotes To Winnipeg...?

((HT: Hockeybuzz.com/Tessier))

Okay, Peter Tessier of Hockeybuzz ((Eklund's site, for those of you outside of hockey circles)) has it that it will be the Coyotes heading back to Winnipeg to hang out in the MTS Centre NEXT SEASON, not the Atlanta Thrashers.

Yes, David Thomson and True North would be involved. That much we have all figured out along the way- regardless of which team is playing beach blanket bingo with The Bettman. There is, apparently, the standard hook of "x" number of season ticket pledges and/or purchases as part of the switch.

But, if this in fact the move on the board, that makes you ask about the guys over at Ice Edge Holdings. If IEH is now out of the loop, the HQ guesses that they are having issues getting a suitable lease agreement with either the league as their intermediary and/or the City of Glendale over Jobing.com Arena.

David Thomson and True North would not have the same problems satisfying any kind of an exit strategy for the Coyotes if they were to relocate. The HQ thinks the checkbook is ready for any number.

Issue 2B: The AHL's Manitoba Moose...

Honestly, there is talk of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon ((SK)) Blades moving to the town of Estavan and the Moose going west, but this could go either way. Honestly, there should be no issue with the Moose being a secondary tenant in MTS with the Coyotes as the primary. Ninety dates with hockey locks up one-quarter of a calendar year for the building guaranteeing a client and a busy winter season.

SUNDAY LATE PM UPDATE: OSG Sports has been in contact with sources close to the Coyotes organization Sunday evening. Their take is that Ice Edge is still at the front of the line with the National Hockey League and that True North hasn't moved ahead of them in any fashion.

The phrase "one in a million chance" was used where a Coyotes-to-Winnipeg move was concerned. There is still the thought of the Saskatoon gambit where the future Phoenix schedule is laid out.

More when we know more...

Quebec City Moving Closer To NHL Again...???

((HT: GlobeSports))

Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume confirmed Saturday that he met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman along with former Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut.

The mayor said the talks between him, Aubut and Bettman in New York on Friday were “fruitful.”

“It was very welcoming, very profitable, very worthwhile,” Labeaume said.
“But we'll get back to you in a few days — we still have work to do.”

Several Quebec City media outlets are also reporting that a new arena for the city will be announced next week.

Bettman said earlier this month he would consider Quebec City as a possible home to an NHL team if it went through with plans to build a cutting-edge arena and if a team were up for sale.

But it may not even be the current team up for sale through bankruptcy...
It might be a match race for Atlanta's Thrashers...

Remember, those of us at OSG HQ told you a while back about a Winnipeg group now interested in a franchise- supposedly the Thrash.

We now have a name to tie to it...from the Winnipeg Free Press...

Toronto billionaire David Thomson...

He's the 24th richest man in the world, and Thomson is also the very quiet part-owner of the MTS Centre ((pictured, thanks to the MTS Centre's website)), the Portage Avenue land upon which it sits and the team that plays in it, the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose.

Officially, Thomson is described as a "minority owner" through Osmington Inc. -- Thomson's real estate company -- of True North Sports and Entertainment. While True North is a privately run company and little is known about the company's finer details, it is known that Thomson and Mark Chipman, chairman of True North, have quietly bought out other True North owners over the years, to the point where they jointly own almost the entire company.

While officially a "minority owner," it's understood Thomson, through underlings at Osmington, does have a major say in True North decisions -- and maybe even a decisive say himself in some major aspects of the operation.

And that would presumably include any venture as bold as the purchase of a struggling NHL franchise in Atlanta and moving it to Winnipeg.

The Thrash are losing, on average, about US$6-million and are about to lose their revenue sharing dollars because the city's population is about to exceed the NHL's limit for receiving those benefits.

Something to keep an eye on...

TSN Turns 25: Winnipeg Loses The Jets

The oldest TV sports network up north turned 25 yesterday...
We went the route of irony to celebrate since we have FOSG inside the building and tip our hat their way for longevity colored in silver...

May 3, 1995
When it was determined that the Winnipeg Jets weren't staying in Manitoba any longer

Michael Landsberg, when he had anchor hair, was running the desk...
((HT: TSN))