So how goes the hockey team?

[BCTed]

Richard Rodier was on Prime Time Sports today and I just had a listen. A few points:

- He made it sound as if Hamilton is pretty well the only city that Jim Balsillie has targeted for re-location, which is just confirmation of something we have pretty well known since 2002 or 2003, when Rodier first came onto the scene. He suggested that Jim is very fond of "The Hammer" and that he is very keen on helping to revitalize a hurting city.

He was asked if JB would consider a purchase of the Toronto Maple Leafs if they ever became available, and his response, after a bit of waffling, was that he did not think so. He was also asked if places like Kitchener-Waterloo would be acceptable as a Plan B and he made it sound like such a Plan B was not in existence.

- He suggested that some kind of evidence would be coming out within the next week or so that would suggest that Gary Bettman would never allow Jim Balsillie to apply for a team without forcing him to agree to not attempt to move a team to southern Ontario for at least seven years.

- He has not been in touch with Gary Bettman or Bill Daly over the last year. It does not sound like JB's camp and the commissioner's camp are on very good terms.

- No specific plan to purchase any specific team is currently in place, but when asked if a deal could come together by September, he suggested that something like that was very possible.