[Vulcan]

=Resolute 14;3653795]Certainly: http://www.thespec.com/news/article/...ning-for-preds

Note that Delbaggio's focus was more on landing an expansion team than buying the Preds at that point, especially since Balsillie was ofering $40 million more than he was willing to go.

So Boots was selling suites instead of season tickets, not much different.

And I realize you don't see a problem with how Balsillie handled because you don't care about pissing all over the fans of the existing market. The NHL does. And the moment Balsillie pulled that stunt, the NHL turfed him. Worked out very well in the end too.

Well the fans in a Nashville weren't buying enough tickets and the financial community wasn't backing the team either, so they needed a wake up call. This was despite having a pretty competitive expansion team.

The judge wanted them to deal because he could not legally force the NHL to take him in as an owner with free portability to move the franchise. Balsillie's claim was rejected with prejudice because a deal could not be made. The judge had no legal right to do what Balsillie wanted.

You can't get away from the fact that the judge thought the best solution was for the two parties to make a deal.

You are reading into a comment what you want to read, not what was actually said. That second- or third-hand report was that if Balsillie wanted to get back into the league's good books, he had to behave. You've yet to show any evidence that he has gotten back into the good books. Moreover, the massive tumble his fortune has taken should tell you that he is no longer a viable owner. Certainly not at the cost it would take to move a team into Hamilton or build a new rink in K-W.

I'm not reading anything into it, the statement was made by more than one reporter. Whether these reporters were reading more into it is another question. Personally I take pretty well all reporters with a grain of salt but that's all we have to go with since we don't have any first hand information.