Thursday Edition

The big news on Wednesday was the Board of Governors paving the way for Jerry Reinsdorf's bid for the Coyotes to be the logical choice for Judge Baum to make at next week's hearing in Phoenix.

The flip side of that is with Ballsillie being snubbed, he now has the ammunition to move forward with all the anti-trust lawsuits that he has in his arsenal against the NHL because they won't let him join the good old boys club.

On the local Nashville front, there was some discussion on Wednesday about the demise of 106.7, the local ESPN affiliate, which did not seem like a big deal to me since we don't receive the signal out here in the sticks but an article at the City Paper this morning lit my fuse on a sensitive issue. The article was about MTSU needing a new home for their athletic broadcast and within the piece it listed off where the other team sports broadcasts were located.

The Predators arrangement with 104.5 that puts them second in line, behind Vanderbilt football and basketball games, is completely unpalatable. For 10 to 15 games a year the Pred's games are broadcast on a low power FM station that cannot be heard south of Franklin. Should an NHL team play second fiddle to a college schedule? I think it is an untenable situation that should be addressed before another season passes. Who is with me?

In Pred Nation...

The Psycho Puck Lady has an interesting story entitled "D-Lister's and the Hockey Players That Wear Them" that starts out with mental midget Kellie Pickler and Jordin Tootoo and proceeds from there. This is a must read on what has been the slowest hockey news morning of the off season so far.

Paul McCann has Ashley Grant, a guest blogger from England, post his assessment of the Preds from afar at his space. Paul was also on Home Ice for the first time in a while yesterday afternoon.

John Glennon has a post on all the money that was spent in Tampa last summer and how little they got in return.

Around the NHL...

The big news on Wednesday came out of Chicago where the NHL Board of Governors met with the prospective buyers for the Coyotes. They gave Jerry Reinsdorf an clean bill of health and Ballsillie a resounding NO! The Ice Edge bid was deemed incomplete. Several folks give their thoughts including Forechecker, Scott Burnside, Paul Kukla, Travis Hair, and the National Post.

I'm not sure what the Ballsillie folks are smoking, but they seemed undeterred by the result of the meeting. In an email from Make it Seven they said, "We do not think that Jim Balsillie's qualification to be an NHL owner is an issue in this case given his 2006 approval as an NHL owner." I'm not sure what account they read, but I didn't see anything close to that.

Chris at The Program, has a repost of Heather McWhorter's email requesting more support for the Coyotes to stay in Glendale.

The death of a blog... Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank writes his own blog's eulogy as it is coming to an end. This is really a sad piece. I have been a regular reader for a good while and understand his situation. Everyone should give Chris the courtesy of a read. Mirtle adds to the discussion about Botta's unexpected separation from the Isles.

For those on the Island, prepare for the "Just Build It" Ralley on August 4th.

A post in the Edmonton Sun spins conspiracy theories about the owners holding out on free agent signings. I think next year's shrinking salary cap is the only "conspiracy" in play here. Mirtle has a follow to this piece this morning.

Frozen Notes looks at a few fantasy comeback possibilities in the Central Division.

Cap Geek has a new tool at their site that allows you to see recent news stories searched by teams. They are really building a good site.

Interesting question from @TheConfluence: I've always wondered if the Pens would still be in 'Burgh if they drafted Bobby Ryan instead....

More later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

I love this quote from a Globe and Mail article from Bill Daly, "Mr. Walker must have been at a different meeting than the rest of the Executive Committee," Daly said via email Wednesday night. "Beyond the fact that Mr. Balsillie was never approved by the Board of Governors in 2006, his entire interview today was spent answering questions on the things he has done since 2006 that call into question his bona fides to be an NHL owner. Obviously, the board was not comfortable with approving him as a business partner, as is their absolute prerogative."