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Is Bettman really going to try and stop this?
Can The Poison Dwarf be that stupid?

It would be nice to have one professional hockey team in Toronto! :-)

While I understand that the dwarf wants a team out there, let them go. They moved to an area that has more interest in watching grass grow then an exciting game. Canada will respect and enjoy the team. Just what the greater Toronto area needs, another bad hockey team. :)

QUOTE(#3):

Originally posted 07:16 AM ET  05.06 by Metsfan07

While I understand that the dwarf wants a team out there, let them go. They moved to an area that has more interest in watching grass grow then an exciting game. Canada will respect and enjoy the team. Just what the greater Toronto area needs, another bad hockey team. :)

Actually, with the young talent the Coyotes have, they have a better chance of winning the Stanley Cup sooner than the Leafs.

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 07:01 AM ET  05.06 by Spiny Norman

Is Bettman really going to try and stop this?Can The Poison Dwarf be that stupid?

Are you being rhetorical again Spiny?

This story is too funny. Gary Bettman is by far the most anti-Canadian man I have ever seen. He would rather lose the league than move a team to Canada. I don't even think he knows the sport was invented in Canada by a bunch of drunken, bored out of their minds Brits on the Rideau River in Ottawa and that the first game of Hockey played with actual rules was in Montreal. I wonder if he knows that? I also wonder if he knows Europeans invented Hockey (albeit Field Hockey)?

Anyways, I can't say I don't believe it. Considering that I heard the league was intent on moving the team to Kansas City, and the fact that Gary Bettman absolutely hates Jim Balsillie, and well Canadians for that matter.

I suspect that Betman is afraid to let one franchise move thus setting in motion 3 or 4 other franchises demanding to move, thus proving that the southern US expansion is exactly what we allready know a complete failure

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 07:52 AM ET  05.06 by sjstruro

I suspect that Betman is afraid to let one franchise move thus setting in motion 3 or 4 other franchises demanding to move, thus proving that the southern US expansion is exactly what we allready know a complete failure

Absolutely true. It's very sad, seeing as the real goal is to make this league strong.

Also, I can't get enough if that Gretzky photo. I'll bet (get it?) he's kicking himself for taking the job.

Gary Bettman, let my people go!

Are you kidding me??? Kansas City was promised a franchise five years ago. We built a $900 million dollar state of the art arena, developed youth hockey leagues and sold out our suites... AND FOR WHAT? We still don't have a team and are waiting on the commish. Bettman better do the right thing and move the Coyotes to Kansas City before he even considers Canada. There will be plenty of other failing franchises that he can move later. KC has been more than patient. We've been used as leverage for cities like Pittsburgh and Nashville to get better arena deals or ownership deals. Its time for the people of KC to be awarded a franchise!

This would be GREAT for the NHL. Get hockey out of cities where it doesn't belong and start restoring the natural balance of US/Canada in the NHL. What a smart move by the owner to bring in the courts and attempt an end-around on the biggest moron in pro sports. You can bet that every other pro sports franchise will be watching this very closely, since it could forever alter the landscape of all the leagues. And why is Bettman still around, anyway? He took the #3/4 sport and dragged it below MMA popularity. The short answer is always that team revenues increased under him, but that is a stupid answer. At least 50% of the owners in the NHL have to be intelligent enough to see that his actions would make them lose money in the long term. Sure some of them are only corporate raiders in it for the short term investment, but I would like to think they are a minority bloc, and that more owners would band together and remove the cancer in the front office. Someone should ask Todd Bertuzzi to visit Mr. Bettman's office...

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 08:13 AM ET  05.06 by KC guy

Kansas City was promised a franchise five years ago.

Methinks you are missing the point. The entire purpose of the article and the bankruptcy filing is to prevent Bettman from having any say at all and circumventing the league's attempt to force the owners to sell to a lower bidder in a city the NHL prefers, which should be illegal anyway. And KC is too small a market for most pro sports. Your baseball team (excluding the nice start this year so far) has been an embarassment to MLB for its entire existence. They were good for a brief stretch when I was a kid, but since they have been horrible and before they were laughingly referred to as part of the Yankees farm system, since they sold any decent player to NY. However, I think they are a good city for an NHL team with a small arena. I would be interested in a team from the SE moving there (Florida, Nashville). Good luck, but it won't be Phoenix. I don't see how a league's wishes override federal bankruptcy law.

I don't think that Bettman is a Canada hater... it's all politics and it is the Leafs' brass that are threatening Gary and saying no friggin' way is another team coming to southern ontario... I live in sw ontario and there is no doubt a new team would rock in this area... and be very very healthy for the league - including the Leafs

Hello Hamilton.

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 08:13 AM ET  05.06 by KC guy

Are you kidding me??? Kansas City was promised a franchise five years ago. We built a $900 million dollar state of the art arena, developed youth hockey leagues and sold out our suites... AND FOR WHAT? We still don't have a team and are waiting on the commish. Bettman better do the right thing and move the Coyotes to Kansas City before he even considers Canada. There will be plenty of other failing franchises that he can move later. KC has been more than patient. We've been used as leverage for cities like Pittsburgh and Nashville to get better arena deals or ownership deals. Its time for the people of KC to be awarded a franchise!

Hey KC Guy. Nice to see you again. I hear you, but is KC gonna show up at the games if they are given a team? Money talks, and it talks with a bullhorn, so...speaking financially, they may feel it is better that they are moved to a Canadian city.

QUOTE(#6):

Originally posted 07:51 AM ET  05.06 by MoReeselovestheSENS

This story is too funny. Gary Bettman is by far the most anti-Canadian man I have ever seen. He would rather lose the league than move a team to Canada. I don't even think he knows the sport was invented in Canada by a bunch of drunken, bored out of their minds Brits on the Rideau River in Ottawa and that the first game of Hockey played with actual rules was in Montreal. I wonder if he knows that? I also wonder if he knows Europeans invented Hockey (albeit Field Hockey)? Anyways, I can't say I don't believe it. Considering that I heard the league was intent on moving the team to Kansas City, and the fact that Gary Bettman absolutely hates Jim Balsillie, and well Canadians for that matter.

I think the total tonnage of what Bettman DOESN'T know about hockey could fill every area in the NHL...and The ECHL...and QMJHL...and The NFL...and Anfield...

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 08:13 AM ET  05.06 by KC guy

Are you kidding me??? Kansas City was promised a franchise five years ago. We built a $900 million dollar state of the art arena, developed youth hockey leagues and sold out our suites... AND FOR WHAT? We still don't have a team and are waiting on the commish. Bettman better do the right thing and move the Coyotes to Kansas City before he even considers Canada. There will be plenty of other failing franchises that he can move later. KC has been more than patient. We've been used as leverage for cities like Pittsburgh and Nashville to get better arena deals or ownership deals. Its time for the people of KC to be awarded a franchise!

Hockey belongs north. Hockey, for the most part is a Canadian sport that belongs with Canadians, who can treasure and appreciate it so much more than we can. Bettman wants that American dollar. Keep in mind that I'm not the greatest hockey fan, even though I watch it, and I've never been to Canada. It's not hard to tell that this team would sell out every game in Winnepeg or Hamilton.

QUOTE(#15):

Originally posted 09:19 AM ET  05.06 by PensFan-DWI

Hey KC Guy. Nice to see you again. I hear you, but is KC gonna show up at the games if they are given a team? Money talks, and it talks with a bullhorn, so...speaking financially, they may feel it is better that they are moved to a Canadian city.

I think that KC is cursed by the fact that they had a team that failed. That team, (the Scouts for you younger people) was maybe the worst set up team in sports history, that it lasted even for as long as as it did is a testament to the KC fans. I think they deserve a second shot..heck, they deserved a second shot before Atlanta did.

Go read Bob Mckenzies write up on TSN. Maybe Balsillie has finally outsmarted the weasel faced midget. http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie/?id=277696

a team in hamilton will not be good for the sabres, any other canadian city is fine with me, just not southern ontario