His NHL Includes Winnipeg2010 State of the League Address: Turning Point For Manitoban NHL FansBefore the Stanley Cup final series begins NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman traditionally holds court with the media in his State of the League address. Over the past number of years, Gary Bettman has dropped Winnipeg’s name. So often in fact, that yours truly opined days earlier to several fans that they should ensure they watch or listen to Gary Bettman on May 28, 2010.Read the address and question & answer session here: http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/commissioner-gary-bettmans-state-of-the-n-h-l-news-conference/What in fact was offered was the usual litany of issues the NHL faces. Of course, Bettman surely knew that the post-address media scrum would be calling for yet another Coyotes’ update. In the surprise of the year, Bettman admitted that should the Coyotes be forced to move, the NHL would move it back to Winnipeg. To further emphasize his point, Bettman publicly named the prospective Winnipeg ownership group as Mark Chipman and David Thomson. Bettman went on to say, “the interest is clear and bona fide, it's gratifying. The process by which they've been engaged with us is as good a process as they could be involved in." . . . more »

The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that the the IEH's own PR rep can't even clearly state if they are working on a lease deal or not. We finally see the COG at odds with IEH over whether they have met term obligations or not. Not to mention whether they are even working on a lease deal or not! For almost two years IEH and COG has similarly dithered.See the article here: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2010/07/26/20100726phoenix-coyotes-ice-edge-deal-trouble.html I believe the end is near for IEH.In 2010, we finally gained an end date for this club: December 31, 2010.Start the official countdown! 157 days after today (Tuesday July 27th)And remember that $25 million "deal" allows either party (COG or the NHL) to walk away if things change substantially for either. (See one of the last few clauses of the deal.)The arizona Repuplic reported Tuesday that the the IEH's own PR rep can't even clearly state if they are working on a lease deal or not. We finally see the C… more »