Sports Business

I knew I wouldn’t last long stating that Wayne Gretzky was one of the main sources of the Coyotes Downfall without backing it up.

I did some digging around news reports from 2009 to try to get the reports and quotes as close to the “Great One’s” departure from coaching as I could. The AP story posted on ESPN.com on September 25, 2009 was the most thorough story that was released just after Gretzky stepped down.

The deal is in the books. 10 years and a reported $2 billion over that span will keep the NHL television rights firmly within the NBC family.

By all objective measure, the NHL contract was paramount to keeping the Versus network alive.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and their arena may have a sudden change of identity if the NHL doesn't address the issue of headshots soon.

As per Bruce Garrioch of QMI, Air Canada has delivered an ultimatum to the NHL: Clean up your league or we are gone.

While many other teams in the National Hockey League have been causing quite a stir today via trades, the Buffalo Sabres have made some noise of their own.

The sale of the Buffalo Sabres to the deep-pocketed Terry Pegula has been officially approved by the NHL Board of Governors.

If the idea of the Sabres jumping into the top eight wasn't enough to excite the HSBC crowd, then this news will certainly charge up the joint.

It's a great day for hockey!

So let's rock the red, head on down to Smashville, and celebrate our town and our team.

If the opening sentences sounded a little weird, it's because I did it that way on purpose. I wanted to cram in some marketing slogans that NHL teams have used in the past or will use this year.

Every year, NHL marketing departments spend many hours coming up with the perfect slogan to impress their fans. This phrase will likely be used on merchandise and in television advertising campaigns, so of course, it should have as much of an impact as possible.

Dear Buffalo Sabres and Portland Pirates executives,

With their historic win streak ended at 14, three shy of the NHL record, and the Olympics well under way, the Capitals have decided now would be a good time to raise ticket prices for their season ticket holders.

It would appear that owner Ted Leonsis has been talking with Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Snyder must have told him "Look for any excuse to raise prices."

The man who can't take no for an answer from the NHL is at it again.

Jim Balsillie, the man who doesn't mind if you call him the person who invented the Blackberry (he didn't), is again crossing sticks with Gary Bettman and the rest of the NHL over moving an NHL franchise into his back yard. 

Balsillie is already 0-for-2 in this game, and there is nothing to indicate that his outlandish $212 million bid to take over the Phoenix Coyotes has any better chance. 

Being from Chicoutimi I saw first hand the devastation that happened to the Quebec Nordiques fans when there team moved to Denver in Colorado.

They were disappointed, sad, angry and puzzled as to why it happened.

The same thing happened a year later in Winnipeg where the Jets moved to Phoenix.

Everyone saw a traitor and a criminal in the person of Gary Bettman because he supposedly did not want to keep the teams in there current area.

Jim Balsillie, billionaire and co-CEO of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion, had the bestselling author of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, as his college roommate. In his new book, Outliers, Gladwell explains the success of elite hockey players, The Beatles, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates, and various Americans living in New York City.

Maybe he could explain why his buddy Balsillie is a billionaire and why he will win his battle over NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman—eventually.