BY SPORTSNET STAFF
sportsnet.ca
sportsnet.ca
The Phoenix Coyotes could soon be on the move to Winnipeg.
Multiple sources tell Sportsnet that a deal to sell the franchise to Matthew Hulsizer is close to being scuttled and the National Hockey League could be in a position to announce the franchise's move once the Coyotes are eliminated from the playoffs. They begin a seven-game series against the Red Wings Wednesday in Detroit.
The NHL has owned the team since buying it out of bankruptcy court in 2009.
Hulsizer's bid to buy the team has been opposed by the Goldwater Institute, a conservative watchdog group that objects to the City of Glendale's financial incentives to push the sale through, most particularly $100 million raised through the sale of bonds.
There are investors in Winnipeg interested in acquiring the franchise, which left Winnipeg for Phoenix in 1996. True North Sports and Entertainment has said it would purchase the team and play in the MTS Centre.
As well, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos is reporting the NHL and True North Sports and Entertainment, led by Mark Chipman and including billionaire David Thomson, have the parameters of a deal already in place to expedite a sale if needed. New owners would need time to sell tickets and make scheduling arrangements, as the MTS Centre currently houses the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.
Wayne Gretzky, who was a former managing partner and coach with the Coyotes before the NHL took it over, agreed that the Coyotes situation in Glendale is dire.
"As time goes on here, it looks less and less like (the team staying is) going to happen," Gretzky said on the Fan 590 Wednesday. "Maybe a great playoff run might change a lot of opinions and thoughts of a lot of people … so if they have a good run maybe a lot of things could change, but it doesn't look good right now."
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly was quick to deny the report, saying the league remains focused on completing a sale that would keep the team in Arizona.
"The report is untrue," Daly said in a statement. "No decisions have been made at this point in time, and there has not been a timetable set for making that decision. "We are still continuing in our efforts to effectuate a sale of the franchise in Glendale."
On Wednesday, Arizona senator John McCain admitted it was going to be "extremely difficult" to keep the Coyotes in Glendale if the Goldwater institute continues its opposition.
"Right now, unless something changes, I'm very concerned," McCain told a Phoenix radio station.
The clock is ticking on Hulsizer as he continues to try and complete his purchase of the NHL team for a reported US$170 million.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged over the all-star break the league has no desire to continue running the Coyotes into next season.
"We'll hang in there as long as it makes sense and as long as we can," Bettman said in late January. "But time is getting short. Make no mistake about that. This is not something that is of infinite duration.
"I have tried to be as careful as I could be not to raise expectations in Winnipeg."
-- With files from Canadian Press
