.This was about Arizona and keeping the Coyotes where they are

If you haven't seen this article it's worth a look.Winnipeg Free Press ”This was never about Winnipeg.This was about Arizona and keeping the Coyotes where they are,” said Bettman, in a patient and respectful tone during a short one on one interview with the Free Press.Bettman is predictably single minded and perhaps a touch Breitling Navitimer Range watches disingenuous in this statement.Certainly this was about Winnipeg when the league entered negotiations with True North Sports and Entertainment last spring and came within a day of closing on a relocation sale.

Certainly the threat of that sale prodded the people of Glendale to bend and finally kneel at the NHL's feet.Now before you get all high and mighty and accuse Bettman of using the city of Winnipeg, keep in mind that we went into this thing with our eyes wide open.There was never a guarantee the NHL would leave Glendale and return to Breitling Navitimer Range Winnipeg.But we were more than happy to sit in the on deck circle and hope for the Coyotes to strike out and give the Peg another turn at bat.There are no victims here, except maybe the Glendale taxpayers who were set up by their city managers and then pushed in front of the train by their elected officials.

There's no way the use of 5,500 parking stalls at Jobing Arena can cover the cost of issuing $125 million in bonds and the interest that will need to be paid.Maybe in Manhattan but not in the wide open spaces of the southwest.Where does this leave Winnipeg in terms of chasing an NHL team? In the same place we've been since the Breitling Bentley Motors watches building of the MTS Centre and the formation of a partnership between the Chipman and Thomson families.Ready and able should the NHL decide to abandon one of its current markets.Bettman threw us a bone last spring saying, “Frankly, if we're going to move a franchise, there are a couple of places in Canada that I'd like to give my attention first.I'd like to try and fix something that I wished might not have happened in the first place.”