Winnipeg hockey fans are quietly confident that they’ll be watching National Hockey League hockey in their hometown at this time next year.

The seemingly never-ending saga of the Phoenix Coyotes has to be completed by the NHL’s Dec. 31 deadline. But there’s a growing feeling in the Manitoba capital that we’ll know before then that the Jets are coming home.

In fact, some observers are speculating that the outstanding bid from Chicago-based financier Matthew Hulsizer is a sham, a product of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s wish to fulfil the league’s obligation to do its best to find a buyer for the money-losing team. Hulsizer’s offer is remarkably similar to the one by Chicago White Sox and Bulls’ owner Jerry Reinsdorf, which was rejected earlier this year.

Hulsizer apparently has a “conceptual” deal to buy the team — whatever that means. But voting on the deal wasn’t on the City of Glendale’s council meeting agenda on Oct. 26, and the next council meeting isn’t until the second week of November.

Any potential memorandum of understanding must be voted on and approved by the council before a lease agreement can be negotiated and an official offer to purchase is submitted to the NHL. That offer then must be voted on by the NHL’s board of governors. Tick, tock.

In the meantime, Winnipeggers open the sports pages every morning to check the hockey box scores. Not to check goals and assists in our hockey pools, but because we want to see how badly Glendale residents are supporting the team. After a near-sellout of more than 17,000 tickets in the home opener, the announced crowds for the next three games were below 8,400 — actual attendance was estimated to be much lower — bringing average attendance down to slightly more than 10,000, lowest in the league.

The Coyotes’ second game got the most attention when a photograph of the crowd during the second period, in which just a smattering of fans can be seen in the lower bowl, went viral. The photo prompted one-liners from hockey analysts and even Coyotes’ player Paul Bissonnette, who tweeted: “Big win tonight. Had the crunch of the game. Thanks to the 5,000 fans that showed up. Did people think it was an 11 o’clock start?”

His rant continued the next day: “Morning folks. Guess we actually had more than 5,000 fans for our game. Didn’t realize it was Dress Like a Seat Night. Close to a sellout.”

Further buoying Winnipeggers’ spirits is that, even if Hulsizer’s deal does go through, there are so many other teams in trouble that the NHL’s return to Winnipeg is a matter of when, not if. The Atlanta Thrashers, for example, are attracting only a few more people per game than the Coyotes; the same goes for the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Islanders. We hear that the Dallas Stars are soon going to need help to pay the bills and the majority owners of the St. Louis Blues have been trying to sell that team for more than a year.

Why postpone the inevitable? Bettman apparently has a certified cheque in his desk drawer from a group led by Manitoba Moose governor Mark Chipman and his billionaire buddy, David Thomson, to bring a team back to Winnipeg.

Here’s betting it gets cashed.
IE