From one of our long-time viewer supporters comes word of Jim Balsillie's latest statement found here http://makeitseven.ca/jb0930.htmlI expect one of two approaches by Balsillie in the future.Either more of the same bully-like tactics with the NHL, whether it is to gain entry into this exclusive club or maybe totally rubbing them the wrong way with an upstart league of his own.The other mindset for Balsillie: he may be getting whispered tones from NHL people saying that they want him but he must "make nice" for the next 'X' months or years. The Sharks minority owner went public with his positive thoughts on Balsillie not that long ago and others most likely feel similar, especially those teams ready to fold, run out of debt money or run out of NHL league advances or all-of-the-above.The real issue for the NHL is that it looks like there are more troubled teams than there may be suckers willing to buy them and keep them at present location. The long wait to sell the Panthers and Lightning and the 'caliber' of those new owners illustrates that barrel-bottom-scraping is at hand in the NHL.Anyone expecting the NHL to tell Balsillie to categorically "take a hike" is OFFside. As long as Balsillie essentially pays penance, he and the NHL just might need each other when the NHL gets around to confronting the issues head on.Hopefully, 'our' years of humbleness gets rewarded before Balsillie. The dedicated number of years that the Mark Chipman-David Thomson group has devoted to this cause might surprise some.That confronted mutual need between the NHL and new owners and locations, looms larger and larger when you see two world class players (Kovalchuk and Lecavalier) that can't be afforded by their bleak teams. more »