Kessel and the Coyotes Situation

Mark Easson

15 years ago

It sounds like the Phil Kessel trade rumors could come to end by next week. October 1st is a key date, as each team much be under the salary cap by then. The Bruins are supposedly around $1.7 under the cap. The longer the Bruins late to trade him, the difficulty they may face is someone puts in an offer sheet a day or 2 before Oct. 1st. If the Bruins followed up with their statement of matching any offer for Kessel, they would have to dump other salary in a short period of time to get under the cap. Minnesota has joined the Leafs, Predators, and Rangers in showing interest in acquiring Kessel. The Leafs and Preds have made the best offers.

The City of Glendale appears to be siding with the NHL’s bid for the Coyotes, even with Balsillie ponying up $50 million for the city to let him take the team to Hamilton. If the NHL wins the bid, I doubt they will find a buyer who would want to keep the team there, and the Coyotes will be gone after this season. Balsillie is hell bent on moving the team this season, but it might be too late for that if he wins the auction. So either way it seems this will be the last season of NHL hockey in Phoenix. I’m wondering if the city of Glendale is siding with the NHL as they feel that they might be able to get more than the $50 million for having the lease broken a year from now? About 2,000 fans crammed into the Jobing.com arena last night to watch their first pre-season game.