What the Hell is up with the Phoenix Coyotes

The world officially hates Jim Balsillie. The owner and CEO of RIM, the company that has brought you the Blackberry handheld device, has been told that the NHL has unofficially deemed him unfit to be an NHL owner. This comes in spite of the fact that the league officially cited Balsillie as a candidate for ownership, which prompted the RIM CEO to go after the Pittsburgh Penguins. His latest bid for the Phoenix Coyotes has met nothing but stonewalls by the league, and now a new player has entered the fray for the financial troubled Coyotes.

Basillie’s agreement with Moyes has pretty much been kyboshed by NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, because the Balsillie feverishly wishes to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and give southern Ontario natives a second, cheaper team to cheer for and support. There’s no doubt that southern Ontario, which already has the Toronto Maple Leafs, could support two hockey clubs. Moving the Phoenix Coyotes after they’ve done nothing but lose hockey games and hemorrhage money in Glendale makes financial sense. I mean, who the hell is itching to watch hockey in the desert? Moving the Coyotes to a market that is hockey crazy, and financially capable of supporting a second team, makes perfect sense to me.

Unfortunately for Balsillie, he may not get to see his bid gain any legs as a new player has emerged to keep the team in Glendale. Jerry Reinsdorf recently submitted a bid to take over the Phoenix Coyotes, to add to his collection of professionals sports teams that includes the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls. However, current owner Jerry Moyes has filed a suit against Reinsdorf’s group and will make a bid to retain the Phoenix Coyotes and keep them at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Moyes is vying to keep the team, but is backed by unsecured creditors, and the fact that his club has already lost so much money has to be a concern to the NHL. It seems, however, that Bettman’s intention is to keep the NHL in Arizona no matter how apparent it is that the city of Glendale has no intentions of supporting a band of losers like Gretzky’s team.

The Coyotes finished the 2008-09 campaign with another losing season. They went 23-15-3 SU at home, but were torn apart on the road with a 13-24-4 SU record away from Jobing.com Arena. Since the 2004-05 lockout season, the Coyotes have failed to put together a winning season. Shane Doan, one of the best leaders in the sport, scored 73 points and lasted 82 games but found no support behind him. Behind him was Steve Reinprecht (41 points), Ed Jovanovski (36 points) and Peter Mueller (36 points). Despite having The Great One behind the bench, the Coyotes have been anything but great.

Still, owners are clamoring to pry this losing club from Moyes dead fingers. It’s just too bad that so many people want to see hockey in Phoenix, and that they can’t see that the city could care less if they lose the club that was formerly the Winnipeg Jets. Doesn’t the fact that the club has lost nearly $300 million scream to you that nobody cares about hockey in Phoenix? If the city is having trouble keeping the NBA’s Suns afloat, how on Earth are the Coyotes going to survive in a credit crunch?