Let's go right back to Penguin and Predator days.Balsillie has driven troubled team values from less than $80 million (the cost in the last two expansion rounds) to now $212.5 million for a team losing $40+ million a season. Of course I admit the new CBA did drive up team values too, but not as much as Balsillie.Until he removes himself from the scene or the NHL makes it clear for him to get lost, Winnipeg will always be bidding against this guy.NHL fans would be Offside to think of Balsillie as an ally. more »

Well the NHL’s not at all as rosy as the Commissioner has said. Hindsight now shows his numerous claims last fall and winter to be false or uninformed at best and truth stretching at worst. Clearly the Coyotes were near death’s door back in August when routine payments weren’t being made to the City of Glendale and the NHL had to step in. The Coyotes were apparently only looking for new additional investors in the fall (meanwhile the truth was much more dire). This sounds exactly how Craig Leipold started his get-out-of-town-quick plan and similarly this same week Tampa Bay announced it is seeking “new investors”. Please no more pig and lipstick shows!But one would be Offside for not taking a large dose of salt with the Commissioners’ words anymore.So today let’s look at two things; the first is the situation the NHL finds itself with the Coyotes and Balsillie and the second is much more important as we look at the wider ramifications to the NHL. more »

In Today’s Winnipeg Free Press, Mark Chipman is quoted that the upcoming visit by NHL teams is not evidence that the league is on the fast-track to returning to Winnipeg.“My answer to that is the same as last year and the year prior —it’s got nothing to do with it,” Chipman said. “This is a combination of two things, that NHL teams continue to express interest in playing exhibition games here because the revenue they can generate here far exceeds what they can generate in their own market, and that there is interest in watching the games.”One would be pretty dumb or naive or even Offside not to understand the not-so-subtle point Mark Chipman is making here. more »