News in the NHL

While Vancouver may be abuzz with news swirling that Matthieu Schneider will be signing in Vancouver, and that the Luongo signing is pretty much a done deal at a reported $7.5million/year the league continues to shoot itself in its foot.

The debacle known as the Phoenix Coyotes, and all of the daytime soap story lines that are floating around down there, are making the league look more and more ridiculous. And not just to hockey fans. To people all around the league, to people who have their livelihoods that are dependent on this sale.

Here’s the latest…

After the leagues apparent savior Jerry Reinsdorf pulled out of the deal, the league scrambled to save face. Kind of. They filed a bid to buy the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes themselves. It was obvious that the league was going to do everything in its power to keep Jim Balsillie out of the deal, but it’s getting pretty ridiculous now. The owner of RIM made an offer of $212.5 million USD, contingent on the plan to move the team to the true north strong and free. Any bid that anyone would make to keep them in Glendale, Arizona is at least $45 million below that offer. It’s hard to see the business sense behind rejecting the Balsillie deal other than trying to avoid a little pie in Gary Bettman’s face. We think we speak for everyone, when we say it’s a little too late for that.

Back to Canuckland, the Schneider deal is a good move, and while he’s turned 40 over this summer, his role will be fairly limited, and he’ll still be able to quarterback a powerplay that has been weak at best. And Luongo? It’s a given, where we may falter is up front, we still need another legitimate scoring threat night in, night out.