Kansas City would be a good spot for them to land, if an offer is made. The Brand new Sprint arena is ready and would be a great place for the team to play. And the city has great fans.

Kudos to the league and management for trying to keep the team in Phoenix. But I suspect the motivation is less fan oriented than it is a desire to get an expansion fee for an eventual Ontario team. It would be hard to move the team to Hamilton and then expand back into Phoenix and get as rich a fee payment as another Canadian team would yield.

I'm a huge hockey fan and spend good money on the sport but I have to side with Jim Basielle on this one. Our system, and the Canadien system is based on capatalism and for the NHL to tell all the parties invovled, especially the current owner they need to settle for upwards of $70 million less is wrong. If I was any prospective owner with the money and the NHL came calling, I would run as far as I can; unless I purposely wanted to lose a boatload of cash. Talk about bad a management - I mean, there is probably is a strong reason why the league ends up with so many criminal owners, such as Boots Del Baggio (Predators), Henry Samueli (Ducks), Sanjay Kumar (Islanders), Greg Reyes (Sharks), Bruce McNall (Kings), Bruce Firestone (Senators) and so on. If a guy like Basielle is clean and has the money, they need to let him in - instead of trying to cobble up bad owners like they have had in the past.

If Hamilton gets a professional hockey team, then Toronto will want one too.

Hockey is a unique sport and is not a automatic fit in some markets.The best thing for the game is to fold the team and improve the quality of play on other teams with the best players being available.The team originally was the Winnipeg Jets it would be interesting if they compared the Phoenix years vs the Winnipeg seasons i would guess the Canadian attendance numbers were better if the team is moved then a new market like Seattle would be perfect because the NHL has never had a team there since the Metropolitans in the 20's and the area lost the NBA Supersonics.

I don't think that Hamilton is the right place. How many teams are in that area? Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo, Toronto & Montreal. Winnipeg may just be the right place ....now. If it is too small a market, then Seattle. My idea?........ HOUSTON! Thsy have support the Areos for decades going back to the old WHL. Also it is in a very large metropolitan area.

-Dave

I must first include this disclaimer before my comments. I am originally from outside Hartford, Ct. I haven't followed hockey avidly since the local NHL team left town to go to another market the same size as hartford. This story is peppered with former Hartford Whalers, as is every story about hockey management. I never really believed the team would leave until it actually did. Yeah, Yeah, the governor of connecticut, who gave the team to the lowest bidder, later showed up on the compuware board of directors. The Hartford exodus was preceded by the move by the Nordique, and followed by Winnepeg's loss, all managed by Bettman. His purpose was well publicized when the owners brought him over from that great moneymaker, the NBA, remember. Well, the Avalanche had great success beginning with the hostile defection by Patric Roy and the 5 first-round draft picks they received for selling Lindross to the Flyers. Or was it the Rangers? Or both? My heart just wasn't into watching Karmanos buy his way into a rivalry with the Detroit Redwings owner. Big deal, Stanley Cup. Over my dead team.

But the Coyotes languished. I agree with the previous comments that suggest hockey has no business in the desert, and should, morally, return to Winnipeg. But the NHL is not based in morality, nor community for that matter, but rather, exists for the benefit of individual owners. If we were to follow the reasoning of private ownership, the move would be made to the largest market available that had no other NHL team(and wasn't sandwiched between numerous other NHL cities). I don't know; Which market is that? Cleveland, Ohio? Portland, Oregon?Are the folks up in Hamilton sure they have enough market to sustain a team between Buffalo and Toronto? Did Winnipeg or Quebec City experience tremendous growth while I wasn't watching or somethin'. Bottom line: the people that poured their heart and soul out hoping for the success of their team in Phoenix aren't even a consideration in this financial equation. Such is the fate of Canada's national pastime.......in the american desert.