[Addendum] The Phoenix Coyotes Are Dead, Almost, Just Give It A Minute

Ding dong. The witch is dead. Maybe. Almost. We'll know more next month. But in a ruling that perhaps surprised only the NHL, the Phoenix bankruptcy judge overhearing the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy today announced that the Jerry Reinsdorf no-money bid, the mythical-yet-to-be-submitted bid from Ice Edge Holdings, and the $212.5 million bid of Jim Balsillie will all be considered by the bankruptcy court in an auction on September 10.

Originally, there were to be two auctions regarding the Coyotes -- a keep the team in Phoenix auction which was supposed to have been done today, and the September 10 open to relocation auction if the original auction was deemed to be unsatisfactory. But Jerry Reinsdorf's bid has proven to be a bit inadequate, and he's still attempting to negotiate with the city of Glendale, AZ over the use of the Coyotes arena, so he and the NHL requested a delay so as to work on the bid. The judge granted that delay, with the result being that all bids will be considered on the same day.

This is bad news for Phoenix, Reinsdorf, and the NHL seeing as how the judge and the leading creditor have both stated that they prefer Balsillie's bid, seeing as how actual money is involved and the creditors are paid off. But in even worse news for Phoenix, Reinsdorf, and the NHL, the judge also stated that the auction is "open to any and all bidders including, but not limited to P.S.E. [Balsillie]."

What that, in effect, means is that the everybody is welcome to bid on the team, and there has been speculation that once the team was open to relocation more bidders might leap in. So it's possible, seeing that this team can now be moved and is not stuck with having to stay in Phoenix, that other parties are going to submit bids to purchase the team and move it, and the NHL has virtually no way to prevent this unless they find a way to get Reinsdorf to offer up at least as much cash as Balsillie.

There is also going to be a court hearing next Tuesday so as to address the fact that the NHL last week rejected Balsillie's bid. My thinking is that the judge will hear the NHL out, tell them to shut up, and get on with the real work. Considering some of the owners they have let into the league, like "Boots" Del Biaggio for example -- it's funny to listen to Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold go on about Balsillie being a liar when you consider that Leipold thought Del Biaggio was an honest guy -- I don't think the judge is going to be too sympathetic to the NHL's concerns. Especially since the judge's concern is getting the money back to the creditors, not helping Gary Bettman dig himself out of this grave he's buried himself in.

So the future of the Coyotes in Phoenix is dead. Almost. Not quite. But in a minute. They'll be stone dead soon. It won't be long.



ADDENDUM:

I want to be clearer about something: with the bidding process thrown open to anybody who wants to buy the club and move it, I wouldn't be shocked or surprised if someone makes a bid that surpasses that of Balsillie's and ends up with the team.

Jim Mill article on theAHL.com

Check out this quick article on Jim Mill's desire to get back to the competitive side of hockey after 11 years in the AHL office.

Interesting that he's declaring a light hand when it comes to complaining about officiating on behalf of the team. Makes me wonder how often Tom Lynn charged that hill for the team. Regardless, Mill certainly brings an interesting perspective to the position.

From The Request Line

Sorry for the delay, but as requested earlier today after the Nolan Schaefer post, here's James Morrison with "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You."

Some Aeros Misc. Info Over At The Press

There's a new Aeros post up over at the mothership if you're interested. It's nothing really new except for some stuff about the Aero Dynamics and a quote from the new captain of the Aero Dynamics. But not everybody reads T3I -- and why not -- so the Press is the place for them to get some info. (Well that, and I get my press pass through the Press.)

So Long, Farewell, Nolan Schaefer

We knew this was happening, but the question was to where. And today we know.

Nolan Schaefer appears to have signed a contract with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. And here's an article in Swedish on the signing, followed with this Google translation. Here's a quote from his new coach: "I have received very good recommendations on Schaefer from North America and the last two seasons in Houston, he has very good statistics, says new coach Sergei Nemtjinov to Sport-Express."

Sergei, I can also give you a very good recommendation on Schaefer. He's not flashy. But he's solid. He's not going to make stupid mistakes. He's not going to panic. He's going to keep you in games. Hell, if you score a goal, he'll probably be able to win you a game.

With Doobie's signing in Minnesota, and Barry Brust and Anton Khudobin under contract and hoping to play here, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Schaefer was leaving the team. Still, I'm going to miss talking to him in the locker room -- the guy was always good with giving us a quote and good explanations for what happened in the game. I wish him luck in Russia.

So so long, farewell.

NBA schedule to be released today

What does this have to do with Houston Aeros hockey you ask?

Well, the AHL schedule usually comes out within days of the NBA's release of theirs. We'll see if that proves true this time.

Disorder In The Court: The Phoenix Coyotes Drag On And On

For those of you still attempting to follow along, the idiocy continued in Phoenix today as once again, the bankruptcy judge refused to bring things to an end. Of course, there are a couple of good reasons the bankruptcy judge didn't bring things to an end, first and foremost being that the idiots running the NHL couldn't get a decent bid from the savior that is supposed to be Jerry Reinsdorf, and Reinsdorf and the other so-called bidder seeking to keep the team in Phoenix begged for a delay in the auction so as to have more time to negotiate with the creditors -- primarily the city of Glendale.

Another reason that the judge couldn't end things today is that there's only one legitimate bid, and that's Jim Balsillie's bid to move the team to Hamilton, but that portion of the auction is scheduled for next month. The judge declared Balsillie's bid to be the "highest and best" of the offers, and it's actually the only one in which creditors will get money.

That's probably why the largest creditor of the Coyotes, SOF Investments, a fund owned by Michael Dell of Dell Computers, appeared in court and said it was only interested in being paid in full and in cash and requested that the court reject the other bids. That should end up having a big influence on the court because the role of the bankruptcy court is to make sure that the creditors get their money back -- and when the largest creditor is happy with only one bid, then that's probably the bid the judge will end up backing.

The matter as to Reinsdorf is now being postponed until September 10 to give Reinsdorf and the mythical bid (mythical because a bid has yet to actually be made) time to get their act together and get not only concessions from the city of Glendale, but also to find a way to make creditors like SOF Investments happy. (There will be a hearing on Wednesday as to whether the relocation auction will be still be held on September 10.)

There are major problems arising with Glendale, and Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes revealed these problems in court filings last Friday. Primarily, Reinsdorf is trying to get a $23 million subsidy from the city over the use of the arena, and that subsidy would be raised by creating a special district around the arena which would charge a so-called voluntary surcharge on retail sales in the district which includes a large mall. More importantly, the district also includes the stadium used by the Arizona Cardinals, and the Cardinals have made it known that they're not happy about this: "The NFL team’s stadium would be in the special district and team president Michael Bidwell was quoted in local media reports as saying it was not fair that Cardinal fans should have to pay for the Coyotes’ problems."

And it gets better, if Glendale couldn't raise the necessary money through the surcharge, the city would end up paying the Coyotes out of city funds, and if, within five years, the team was still not showing a profit and if the city then refused to pay the team $15 million a year, then Reinsdorf would be able to move the team.

And if you have the time, there's a good story from a sister paper to the mothership which reports that there are some very serious shenanigans on the part of Glendale's city manager to make sure a good friend of his (a co-bidder from Reinsdorf) gets the team, and that this city manager has failed to offer up similar deals and concessions to the current owner and any others who might have been interested in the team.

So, in summary, there will be a hearing on Wednesday to determine if the relocation auction originally scheduled for September 10 will still take place on September 10, or whether it will be pushed back so that the incompetent fools chosen by the NHL can attempt to get their act together in time for another auction on keeping the team in Phoenix on September 10. Further, the judge likes the Balsillie bid. The largest creditor likes the Balsillie bid and has stated it wants to be paid in full and in cash. There's some shady business dealings going on between the city of Glendale and Jerry Reinsdorf, and even the Arizona Cardinals are against the Coyotes.

At this point, I think we should all be happy that George W. Bush put Mike Brown in charge of FEMA and not Gary Bettman because I can't help getting the feeling that the Gulf Coast would still be under water from Katrina if Bettman was running things.

P.S.: For a little fun, here's some real disorder in the court.

2009-10 Schedule should be out soon

Warning ... the following is only being posted to help with a rather slow news day.
Please lower your expectations immediately.

On July 22, the AHL wrote and said the schedule should be out the week of Aug. 3.
HEY ... That is this week! ... So those that plan their lives around 80 exciting games should get their fill of news in the coming days.

Someone wrote me and asked why the schedule wasn't already out.
Another e-mailer asked the earliest the schedule has ever been released.

I don't know the answer to either question, but I can give you the dates of the last six schedule release dates. Here they are as follows:

2008 - Aug. 7
2007 - Aug. 7
2006 - Aug. 2
2005 - Aug. 5
2004 - Aug. 10
2003 - July 31

This is as far back as I keep that information, but it is interesting to note how early they got it out in 2003 and how late it came out the next year.

Some people live and die for this date, and other hockey fans could care less.
Do you care when the AHL schedule is released? What is the first thing you look for when you get it?

Mark LeRose hired as Aeros Assistant Coach

T3I has learned and confirmed with Kevin Constantine that Mark LeRose is being brought in as the second assistant coach for the Aeros, filling Luke Strand's vacant position.

LeRose comes from the Everett Silvertips where he was hired as an assistant coach the year after Constantine left for the Aeros, but was the coaching staff assistant to KC during his last season as the coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 99-00.

@3rdIntermission: We got your Twitter right here

T3I is jumping into the Twitter fray! You can follow us at http://www.twitter.com/3rdIntermission.

The goal is to get breaking news out, let you know when there's a new blog post, provide info that might be interesting but maybe isn't worthy of a whole post, etc.

We also discussed tweeting during games, so we'll see how that goes when the season starts.

If you're already following @Houston_Aeros, then you know the drill. Just sign up for a Twitter account (you don't ever have to post any tweets yourself) and go to the link above and click Follow. Easy as pie. Then all our tweets, plus any other Tweets you follow, will show up on your main Twitter page.

You can even set Tweets to come to your phone, which I assume is pretty cool, but I have too crappy a cell phone to actually use this application. *grump*