NHL Nhl Economics

Somewhere Barry Melrose is smiling, perhaps even laughing maniacally, at the news that Tampa Bay Lightning co-owners Oren Koules (pictured right) and Len Barrie are meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday to determine which individual has the authority to make decisions for the team.

Quick refresher course: The Lightning were, by far, the busiest team last offseason (and during the season itself) acquiring every player they could get their hands on, and, in some cases, badly overpaying them. A season that started with playoff predictions from ownership ended with the second-worst record in the league, and Melrose, hired on June 27, was ultimately fired after just 16 regular season games, sparking a public feud between he and the two owners. While Melrose didn't exactly get his wish of Tampa Bay not winning another game the rest of the season, he was relatively close.

Various media outlets are reporting this afternoon that the Montreal Canadiens have been sold to the Molson family, pending league approval (which, according to TSN, could take until mid-summer). The price tag for the NHL's most storied franchise? Depending on which report you listen to, it's somewhere between $500 million and $550 million ... or more.

How are Canadiens fans reacting to the news?

The real NHL awards will be handed out Thursday night in Las Vegas, so FanHouse decided to hand out its own special awards for the 2008-09 season.

It's designed to maintain competitive balance and parity across the league, but if you waste valuable salary cap space on free agents that don't pan out or contribute the way you expected, you're pretty much stuck without a paddle because nobody is going to bail you out and take that albatross contract off your hands.

Introducing the FanHouse nominees for the Wade Redden Award for Wasted Cap Space.

A's owner Lew Wolff says he's not looking at the Coyotes' threatened move from Phoenix as any kind of model for Oakland's baseball team, an idea that had been hinted at by the Los Angeles Times over the weekend.

Instead, it's the Sharks who are providing some inspiration for Wolff as the A's begin exploring their options in San Jose.

"The Sharks are the single most import venture of that sort to happen in that city," Wolff says.

The old saying "third time's the charm" doesn't appear to apply to Jim Balsillie.

The very rich Canadian gentleman has seen yet another attempt to buy an NHL team for his friends in Hamilton go up in smoke. Monday, a bankruptcy court judge in Phoenix rejected Balsillie's bid for the Coyotes, clearing the way for the franchise to stay in Phoenix. The Coyotes join the Penguins and Predators as teams Balsillie has unsuccessfully tried to buy and move to Hamilton, Ont.

Since the NHL returned from the 2004-05 lockout it has had only one broadcast television partner, NBC. The league has not been paid for the broadcast rights to NHL games -- despite getting money from Versus -- and if a report from the Globe and Mail is true, these trends are going to continue.

So whether or not you like NBC's coverage get used to it because we are likely stuck with it for another two seasons. That means potentially another two years of awkward intermission exchanges between Mike Milbury and Pierre McGuire as well as, hopefully, more great Winter Classic moments.

After jumping out to a 1-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final, Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock held a press conference on Monday and fielded a variety of questions from the media. For the most part, it was your typical, run-of-the-mill press conference.

About half way through, a reporter started asking Babcock about how he once joked that he was ready for the salary cap to break up the young talent the Chicago Blackhawks have assembled over the years. In Babcock's mind, he wasn't joking.

While the National Hockey League continues to fight for what they feel is right for the Phoenix Coyotes, it appears they have some friends in high places.

Commissioner Gary Bettman isn't going into this fight alone. Filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday included statements from the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball.

There was a time when my favorite sport was, without hesitation, baseball. Recently, however, my interest in the game has been lost. Not because of a steroid scandal or the incompetence of Bud Selig, but mostly because the team I grew up cheering for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been a Major League Baseball team in name only and is currently working on its 17th consecutive losing season with no end in sight.

You might argue that makes me a fair-weather fan, but I disagree. My interest is so low that if, by some perfect storm -- like the rest of the National League halting operations and disbanding from the league -- the Pirates actually won something, I still probably wouldn't care as much as I should. I just don't care about baseball anymore, but I certainly don't begrudge those who still do. It's still a great game, even if my interest is at an all-time low.

"All we are saying is give peace a chance." – John Lennon.

"All we are saying is give hockey a chance." – Gary Bettman.

We tried, Gary. And thanks largely to you, it's just not working.

Your grand plan was for hockey to take over the U.S., which since the Civil War has included the South. Sorry, but most people down here would vote to secede from the Union again if hockey ever becomes our national pastime.

I've been hearing how fabulous the NHL playoffs have been, and how they could pave the way for hockey's resurgence. So I went to a shopping mall here in Orlando and asked the first 100 people I saw about the Ovechkin-Crosby showdown.