With Balsille the NHL was fighting for its ability to dictate where franchises go. Balsille was trying to strong arm a relocation to a city not many in the league were crazy about at best, and powerful organizations that would have been against it.
The others were basically Boots Del Biaggo wanting to move a team to Kansas City.
Take those two guys away and you have barely a peep about any serious relocation outside of TNSE who "played by the rules" and quietly waited until they were called upon. Now Balsille no longer has the capital to make the kind of strong arm play he was trying (nor be the sole owner of a team), and Boots is in jail. I'd say the relocation talk has been overstated.
|