Agreement Could See Coyotes Leave Arizona

The Coyotes yesterday surprise many around the NHL by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and agreeing to a $212.5M sale to Jim Balsillie, who intends to relocate the team to southern Ontario. The bankruptcy filing comes less than an hour before the NHL planned to complete a deal to sell the club, infuriating the league and prompting it to open an investigation into the filing. A source claims Gary Bettman was not consulted on the Balsillie agreement, and the commissioner says he expects the team to still be in Phoenix at the beginning of next season. But an offer of $17M for debtor-in-possession financing as part of the deal puts the RIM co-CEO “at the head of the line when it comes to creditors.”

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