Ice Edge pulls out of Coyotes deal ahead of City Council vote

Here is the latest in the never ending saga...

PHOENIX - Ice Edge Holdings has withdrawn its minority interest in the proposed purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes ahead of a Glendale City Council vote that would put off finalizing any deal by as long as a year.

Ice Edge CEO Anthony LeBlanc said Tuesday that his organization had been involved in the process with the Coyotes "long enough."

Ice Edge once had tried to buy the team as the majority owner but accepted minority status when Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer entered the picture.

Hulsizer's efforts to buy the team from the NHL have stalled in the face of a threatened lawsuit by the conservative Goldwater Institute watchdog group over terms of a lease agreement worked out with Glendale for the team to continue to play in Jobing.com Arena.

LeBlanc said his company would concentrate on its minor league hockey operations in Thunder Bay, Ont. He also plans to run for political office there, he said.

The move has no serious implications for the bid by Hulsizer, whom LeBlanc said would be "a terrific owner."

But Hulsizer's efforts have hit a logjam that may be impossible to break, since he has indicated he has made his last, best offer and the Goldwater Institute vows to sue if the city follows through on the deal. The institute is concerned that the generous terms of the lease violate the state's constitutional ban on subsidizing private enterprise.

Winnipeg not outside the realm of possibilities

For those people that keep saying that the NHL won’t return to Winnipeg, you might want to return to this article from last season. There have also been discussions about moving the NHL back to Quebec City and Winnipeg.  

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has allegedly said he would rather see the Phoenix Coyotes move to Winnipeg than Hamilton, according to documents filed in the team's bankruptcy court case.

Earl Scudder, a lawyer who works for Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes, filed an affidavit Friday that said Bettman told him this last month when told there was a buyer interested in buying the team and moving it to southern Ontario.

According to The Canadian Press news agency, Bettman allegedly told Scudder that Hamilton's Copps Coliseum isn't an ideal destination because it's over 30 years old, saying "if the team did return to Canada, it would be Winnipeg," according to the filed document.

The statement went on to say the only way Bettman would allow a second NHL team in southern Ontario was through expansion.

Winnipeg lost its NHL club in 1996 when the Jets moved to Phoenix.
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