“The steel cage death match that is the fight over the Phoenix Coyotes reached new lows yesterday with grown men name calling and tugging on the franchise and its’ fans like a new toy that everyone wants to play with.”

I wrote the above earlier this week and believed it at the time. But now... after digesting the new documents and information that became available yesterday… those “new lows” have gone even lower. I thought the reason I didn’t like the idea that Jim Balsillie was negotiating to buy the Predators two years ago was that I didn’t believe we, as Nashville residents, could trust him. Rumors of all these tidbits of information have been flying around Music City about the dirty dealings of Blackberry boss, now seeing how he and his representative have manipulated local government, local media, national media and other owners in the NHL, my beliefs have been validated.

I have received multiple emails from readers complaining about my use of the descriptor “vulture” when referring to the Blackberry boss over the whole Phoenix mess. I now know that term may be inaccurate. Maybe it should be “snake” or perhaps “weasel.”

This information should be a severe wake up call to hockey fans everywhere, especially fans in Hamilton. You cannot trust anything that comes out of this camp.

The following information comes from a statement made by former Predator owner Craig Leipold to the NHL Board of Governors. In that statement we learned that a representative of the co-CEO of Research in Motion, favorite Pred Nation punching bag and Balsillie attorney Richard “Just Chill” Rodier, was in contact with the City of Nashville Finance Director two full years before publically expressing interest in buying the Predator franchise.

Now… why would a seemingly unrelated business concern reach out to government officials like this? According to emails and phone calls, the purpose may have been to raise questions about the net worth provision of the Predators’ lease with the city. Something the city of Nashville had never inquired about prior to these contacts.

Then… a few days after Rodier’s last contact with Metro, articles started appearing in the Toronto Globe and Mail about the Predators' lease and specifically the net worth provision, going as far as proposing that the Preds were in violation of the lease. Hmmm… I wonder where that information came from…

Then politics took over… the former mayor of Nashville and his administration did the franchise and the city no favors by allowing themselves to be manipulated so expertly. The local media fell on the story like a pack of ravenous wolves. The entire situation poisoned the relationship between the city and the team’s ownership and cost the team a lot of money in legal fees defending silly allegations, something that the Balsillie camp drove. This does look like a clear attempt to devalue the franchise.

So the Balsillie interest goes all the way back to 2005. Now it makes him cunning as well as less than honest. OK... back channel talks like this happen all the time. The manipulation of local government is also an old story, however, things get really interesting and even more revealing about the lack of trustworthiness of the Balsillie effort once the proposed sale became public in 2007.

In Craig Leipold’s statement, he lays out eleven separate examples of the underhanded way of negotiating and doing business demonstrated by the Balsillie camp during the Predators’ sale process. The most damning one in my eyes was the fourth and fifth examples given.

4. In Balsillie’s presence, Rodier advised that the Predators should sue the city of Nashville for “bad faith” to create the color of litigation prior to closing.

5. In Balsillie’s presence, Rodier advised that after the June 30 closing, Balsillie would move the franchise in the dead of night using the litigation as cover.

... move the franchise in the dead of night using litigation as cover Now there's an up front and honest businessman right???

I’ve been saying that this man will stop at nothing to get what he wants… and frankly doesn’t seem to care how it makes him look. Balsillie doesn’t even have the ability to say that he didn’t know what his lawyer was doing… he was present when these morally questionable tactics were discussed! I’m only focusing on the Nashville related information. The Pittsburgh deal and the Phoenix dealings are their own story… one that needs to be told as well.

Hamilton fans need to ask some hard questions. Do you truly believe that this man has anything but his own selfish interests at heart? What happens when he becomes dissatisfied with Copps Coliseum (an older facility in which a renovation is only a temporary fix) and leverages other Canadian cities against you? What happens when the Hamilton Coyotes are on the block and have the potential to become the Kitchener Coyotes? Mr. Balsillie seems to have shown a blatant disregard for process, procedure and quite frankly… ethics. Is this the kind of ownership you want for a team representing your fair city?

NHL owners have spoken with one voice, a rare feat for this group, but the unanimous vote has to tell you something. I know the long list of crooks and liars that have been involved with this league in the past. Isn’t it is a positive when the board recognizes that the character of a potential partner is important, as that vote indicates?

The legal storm that will follow whatever decision the bankruptcy judge makes means this mess will not be quickly or easily cleaned up. If the league wins, Balsillie will attempt to manipulate the process again... all while callously wrapping himself in the Canadian flag. If Balsillie wins, expect the league to file lawsuit after lawsuit to prevent the sale and keep from being forced to do business with someone they clearly do not trust.

This story and the wreckage that Balsillie leaves behind is a cautionary tale… and it is a story that simply not go away.

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Don’t believe me? Read the document for yourself… it’s 24 pages, including a sworn statement from Bill Daly and more damningly, a statement from former Pred owner (and current Wild owner) Craig Leipold, describing the Balsillie team’s deception in detail. Here’s the address…

http://docs.bmcgroup.com/phoenixcoyotes/docs/azb_2-09-bk-9488_544.pdf

The Leipold statement is on pages 21-24 of the document.

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Dirk Hoag in his "On the Forecheck" blog also has a great take on this... check it out at...

www.ontheforecheck.com

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The Nashville Tennessean, one of the big drivers of the story has a great take on how they were manipulated as well, you can find it at...

What? ... They haven't reported on this yet? Oh...

Never mind.

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Countdown to Training Camp - 37 days to go!

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