Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
The league has been adamant over the last couple of decades now that teams stay put as long as someone is willing to operate a team in their current market. It's why hopes of relocating the Penguins to Kansas City, the Predators to Hamilton, the Coyotes to Hamilton/K-W have all failed. As long as there was a local owner - or in Pittsburgh's case, arena negotiations - the teams stay. And it's why Atlanta relocated. Nobody wanted that team in that city.
What's interesting here is that it seems like the ownership well has finally gone dry in Phoenix. Add in the difficulty in getting a new arena deal off the ground, and it's not hard to imagine that the Coyotes could have no more than one or two more seasons left in the desert.
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Actually the NHL can stop the sale and relocation of a franchise but they cannot stop an owner from relocating the team himself. If Murray Edwards or Eugene Melnyk wanted to up and relocate their franchise there is nothing Bettman or the NHL can legally do to stop them.