In Nashville, Nate Rau reported locally based Acadia Healthcare CEO & Chair Joey Jacobs and two of his sons "have invested" in the Predators and are now members of the team's ownership group. Jacobs and his sons Brent and Scott "joined the ownership group in the last several weeks." The family's investment "represents a minority stake in the Predators" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/14)
LONE STAR: In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote coach Ken Hitchcock retiring does not "change what appears to be a rough summer ahead for the Stars." And it does not "answer the questions about where this team is headed" as led by Owner Tom Gaglardi and GM Jim Nill. Gaglardi "hired Nill fiver years ago, but the GM has brought in two coaches and will now bring in a third, and the Stars have won all of one playoff series in his time." Cowlishaw: "When does the clock tick for Nill? How is he somehow immune to all of this?" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/14).
MAKING SENSE OF THINGS:In Ottawa, Rick Gibbons writes maybe relocating the Senators to LeBreton Flats "isn't such a good idea after all." The franchise "did just fine for many years in Kanata with good teams and decent attendance." The team is now "paying a steep price for being distracted by the lure of seemingly greener pastures downtown." It was not until four years ago that LeBreton even "became a possibility" and Owner Eugene Melnyk "started thinking about it as a potential 'game changer.'" Since then, the team has "gone from a respectable 13th to 24th in league attendance." Some of that "is the consequence of alienating a Kanata-area fan base with all this relocation talk" (OTTAWA SUN, 4/16).
