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THN.com Blog: Balsillie still craving NHL franchise

Jim Balsillie plays in the Champions Alumni Game at the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Quebec City. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)

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Jim Balsillie plays in the Champions Alumni Game at the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Quebec City. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)

Ken Campbell

Ken Campbell
2008-12-12 12:15:00

Over the last little while, the NHL has accepted a guy who makes slasher movies and a former NHLer over Jim Balsillie. It enthusiastically took in William Del Biaggio over Jim Balsillie. It allowed Craig Leopold to divest himself of a money-losing franchise, only to land a lucrative one in Minnesota. And still Balsillie sits on the outside looking in.

Gee, you'd think a guy would be discouraged by this time. But not Balsillie. I visited the BlackBerry magnate at his offices in Waterloo, Ont., for an upcoming story in The Hockey News and came away with the distinct impression he isn't going anywhere when it comes to his pursuit of an NHL team.

“I would absolutely love it to happen and I hope it will happen and I want it to happen,” Balsillie said for a piece that will appear in the Dec. 29 issue of THN, “and I'm somebody who stays with things. I'm predictable and I'm consistent. I'm a passionate person, to the point of too much sometimes in some people's minds. It doesn't seem so to me, but I'm sure it is for some.”

With a number of teams in serious financial peril – no, we don't believe commissioner Gary Bettman when he says the league has 30 healthy franchises – there would be no shortage of money-losing hockey owners willing to sell to Balsillie. But the NHL, intent on preserving the Toronto Maple Leafs monopoly over southern Ontario, has so far kept Balsillie out of its ranks.

It stirs up some real frustration among Canadian hockey fans, but not with Balsillie. The 47-year-old billionaire actually can sympathize with Bettman, saying he has a very difficult job and is in a no-win situation when it comes to being criticized for almost everything he does.

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In fact, Balsillie seems to have adopted a more patient approach to all of this. Even he probably knows that at some point, the NHL is going to have to do something about its money-bleeding franchises, a situation that looks as though it's going to get worse before it gets any better.

“I've been very candid that I'm a team player and I work within the NHL rules and I respect the leadership and I respect that it's a club and there are partners and you have to work with partners,” Balsillie said. “And I have a lot of success working with teams and partners and relationships for decades, so that's OK. I've also made it clear to the leadership that there's a desire and a commitment and a clear market opportunity to support a team if they choose to want to have one come here. There will be full community involvement and full resources. But it's a league prerogative. With Pittsburgh, I was committed to Pittsburgh. So it's really a league decision and if there's a fit with me, so be it. That would be great. If not, it wasn't meant to be.”

Something tells me that at some point, it's going to be meant to be. Canada, and particularly fans in southern Ontario, continue to wait and hope.

Ken Campbell is a senior writer for The Hockey News and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Wednesday and Fridays and his column, Campbell's Cuts, appears Mondays.

For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, Subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.

COMMENTS (29)

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Sens Fan Posted
(2009-04-30 07:29:34)



Within the next two years, Winnipeg will have an NHL team. As for Jim Balsillie, he has been royally screwed out of purchasing an NHL team multiple times due to the sports world's single largest Napoleonic fraud and the biggest hockey snake in the world... Gary Bettman. The only ways Mr. Balsillie will get to own an NHL team are 1) Bettman is fired by the NHL's Board of Governors; 2) Bettman resigns; 3) This is my own speculation... Bettman gets put on trial by a tough team of prosecutors and is convicted by a tough judge and jury over Bettman's involvement with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators situations and the subsequent purchase of the Minnesota Wild by... former Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipoid. I am firmly in Jim Balsillie's corner in his quest to purchase an NHL team and I'm just as angry as many true Canadian hockey fans are about Mr. Balsillie being shut out of owning an NHL team. Let's all hope that Gary Bettman is gone soon.
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Flyer guy Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:36)



Good job Kendra, you make yourself look more and more foolish with each post. At least for now Canadians are still allowed to cross the border to watch hockey games. You should look at a globe before YOU do any further analysis.
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Vincy Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:35)



Ok, as an Expat. I want there to be at least one more Canadian team but all this talk about another team in S. Ontario is nice but that's not what the league wants. I'll tell you where a team ends up.....Halifax! That whole part of the country is underserved and has a huge base to build on. With tech and Aero jobs out there, they have the $$ too. Look I'm sentimental about Winnipeg and the Jet's too but like Quebec City, there's not enough people with $$ to support a team.
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Dan Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:35)



Wow Kendra...maybe you aren't the one really thinking...i'm sure he knows Detroit and Buffalo are in the states, he's simply stating Southern Ontario is extremely close to those arenas. Open your mind a little. But on the topic of location, who cares, just get them out of the failing American cities, and bring them back to Canada, Quebec Nordiques reborn for all I care.
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IslesTigers Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:35)



Ranger57 Announced sellouts aside the Rangers are rarely actually soldout and you should know that with all the Islander fans at Msg. The so-called huge Ranger fan baseball only had 30,000 people watching games on Msg two years ago. The Islanders sold out every game for over a decade and the entire second half of 2002. They had twelve sellouts last season.
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Bryce Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:33)



Currently I would have to say that both Manitoba and Ontario are have-not provinces, but a have-not province with a few billionaires (Ontario) will stand a better chance of turning it around. I think the best option is to put a team in Southern Ontario. They can start playing in Copps Collesium until Jim Ballisae gets a state-of-the-art arena built in Kitchener-Guelph. For all the problems with recessions and what-not this city(ies) seems to be doing alright. Plus its a little farther from Toronto and Buffalo. Makes sense to me.
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Kendra Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:32)



Well T.H., it seems you are not very bright or perhaps you're really out of it. The last I checked, Detroit is in the State of Michigan and Buffalo is in the State of New York. In case you didn't know it, both of these States are part of the United States of America not southern Ontario. You should attend a geograhy course before you do any further analysis.
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jamie Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:31)



umm Rick, last time I checked, Ontario is a have-not province. Perhaps you should have done some research before making such a stupid hypocritical comment (and no, I'm not from Manitoba).
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zakman Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:28)



The Sabres would not fold. And Toronto does deserve and would support a second team. Seems you are the one that is out of it!
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John Posted
(2009-04-30 07:28:24)



There is absoultely an ownership group in Winnipeg; the same group that owns and runs the MTS Centre. They're just quite about it. That's the way the NHL wants it. Balsillie's "loud" way of conducting business has screwed him out of 2 NHL teams. Look people.. if the NHL *WANTED* Balsillie as an NHL team owner, he'd be the owner of the Nashville Predators right now. And he isn't. The NHL won't deal with him again.
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