The View From Wisconsin

No, I'm not talking about a portion of scripture today; I'm talking about bankruptcy - the "bad" kind. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is simply described as "cutting up the debtor's assets among the creditors."

In essence, it's liquidation - a business that declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy ceases operations and a trustee appointed by the court sells off pieces of the the company to the creditors. Once all the creditors are paid off and all the pieces are sold, the case is done and everyone moves on with their lives.

So why would I be talking about bankruptcy? No, not because of my personal financial situation (thank God); it's because of the circus that's going on in Phoenix over the "sale" of the Coyotes.

A Coyotes fan by the handle TheYotesDiva (the head of the Save The Coyotes Coalition) made a very interesting point about the sale on her Twitter feed:

"I've been frustrated with Judge Baum (the judge overseeing the case) for not making any decisions on anything and drawing this thing out; but I just realized something: he didn't rule on anything because it would've drawn things out even more. The more decisions he made, the more appeals the lawyers would file. He's going to rule on everything at once and I'm willing to bet that he'll go the path of least resistance."

Unfortunately, the "path of least resistance" is to rule against all parties involved. That would mean Chapter 7 bankruptcy for the Coyotes.

What exactly would this mean for everyone involved? Let's go through it from top to bottom:

• The National Hockey League would have the biggest migraine headache in the world - the forcible termination of one of their franchises by court order. They would probably be named the trustee for the liquidation - which would make Balsillie and Moyes howl, but would be completely within the rights of the NHL, since they were the incorporators of the franchise. The dispersal of the players wouldn't be an issue (I believe that is actually covered in the CBA with the NHLPA), and there'd be a few headaches in re-doing the schedule (mostly in altering the dates the 'Yotes were scheduled to play Eastern teams), but the NHL could (for the most part) get past it.
  
• Jerry Moyes would be a HUGE loser. He wouldn't get anywhere near the money that he was promised from the sale to PSE. He'd likely appeal the decision, but I doubt that he'd get far.
  
• PSE and Jim Balsillie would lose, but only because he wouldn't get his precious NHL team. Then again, no one else would, either. You can bet he'd try to appeal, or he'd just wise up and make a full-court press against Len Barrie and Tampa. Knowing Jim, though, he'd take this whole thing personally.
  
• The players would end up on their feet, but there would be losers among the roster. Not all teams would want to or be able to draft and pick up players from what is arguably a team of lesser talents (Shane Doan notwithstanding).
  
• The City of Glendale would be a HUGE loser, because not only would they lose the Coyotes, but it's likely that Balsillie would get a court injunction preventing any future NHL "expansion" teams from playing in the Phoenix area prior to him getting his precious team in Hamilton. Which will be, at the current pace, on the twelfth of never. The NHL could get Baum to agree to a settlement that the league would have a certain number of rescheduled games that would have involved the Coyotes to be played "neutral site" at the Jobing.com Arena - though Balsillie might balk at that idea.
  
• The San Antonio Rampage of the AHL (the Coyotes' minor league team) would have issues trying to field a team this late in the game; theoretically, the AHL and the PHPA could come to an agreement to allow the team to sign free agents, or have the Anaheim Ducks send their players to SA for this season only.
  
• The fans of the Coyotes would get the worst of all of this, because they'd get no hockey, no team, and no hope of hockey ever returning to the Valley.
  

Baum mentioned the idea of going to Chapter 7 a few times over the previous week, and he may have used the nuclear option as a veiled threat to make the two sides (the NHL and PSE) come to some sort of an agreement that would allow for a ruling that wouldn't be appealed constantly.

If neither side is willing to budge, though, be prepared to see the dissection of the Coyotes - and people in PHX screaming when they hear the number 7.

Labels: Phoenix Coyotes