Paul Hunter, of the Toronto edition of the Star, reported yesterday on Jim Balsillie's attempt to get MLSE exec Richard Peddie on the record. The article, Leafs trying to block me: Balsillie, details Balsillie's desire to have Peddie under oath and on the grill.
It's amazing it has taken this long for Balsillie to turn his attention to the Maple Leafs who have a history of standing against expansion in Canada. This stance isn't a Peddie thing, it goes back to the days of the WHA and the addition of teams in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Quebec City, the Leafs have always opposed more teams in Canada.
The Leafs enjoy being Canada's team, and they are, in a far more meaningful way than the Dallas Cowboys could ever be called America's Team.
The NHL has attempted to block the deposition of Peddie, suggesting the cart is being put in front of the horse. The NHL argues that relocation isn;t on the table until an owner is decided, and in some respects they are right, the question really comes down to how long Judge Baum wants to stretch out proceedings. The issue of ownership and relocation may best be decided in one fell swoop to allow the franchise to pick up and move on no matter the decision.
Interestingly the NHL has moved to depose Balsillie, somethign Balsillie's camp has now agreed to. The Balsillie camp will get a chance to sink it's teeth into Bettman, his right hand Bill Daly as well as Wild minority owner Craig Leipold and Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs.
This has been bad puppet theater from the get go and it looks like it will only get worse before being resolved. There are problems on all sides in this case, a league unwilling to look deal with real problems, an owner unwilling to live by the terms of his membership and a billionaire not used to hearing "no".
What's more embarrassing, dog fighting, PED using, gambling, wife-beating players and a shady ref or an entire league being undone in such a silly fashion?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment