Bettman wants to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix

DETROIT (AP) — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman insists he is merely trying to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, not block Jim Balsillie from buying the team and setting up shop in Ontario.

Bettman sat in a hotel ballroom in the heart of Hockeytown on Saturday and spent much of his time answering questions about the struggling franchise that landed in bankruptcy court against his will.

Just hours before the Detroit Red Wings began defense of their Stanley Cup title in the finals opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bettman spoke of his desire to find a new owner for the Coyotes.

Team owner Jerry Moyes recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a plan that included the proposed sale of the club to Balsillie, who would move it to Hamilton, Ontario.

The NHL — with support from the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA — has asked Judge Redfield Baum to uphold that the league has a right to determine who owns a team and where it plays.

“The issue here is league rules and league processes and procedures,” Bettman said. “This is not just an NHL issue. This is not a Canada versus U.S. issue. This is not a Phoenix versus Hamilton issue. And this is certainly not a personal issue.”

Mere minutes before Moyes filed for bankruptcy, the NHL was close to selling the team to Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who would keep the team playing in its relatively new arena in Glendale, Ariz. The issue of who controls the Coyotes is also in dispute.

“The team was never in jeopardy,” Bettman said. “It was literally 20 minutes away from being fixed in a way that we thought was going to work quite well. It’s my view that the Coyotes should not be in bankruptcy.”

Keeping with the theme of the finals, Bettman noted that the Penguins were in worse shape than the Coyotes when they filed for bankruptcy in 1999. That situation looked particularly bleak because there was no assurance Pittsburgh would get the new arena the team desperately needed.

With core players Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins are in the finals for the second straight year and look forward to a new arena for the 2010-11 season.

“We didn’t walk out on Pittsburgh, we fought to fix their problems,” Bettman said. “We’re fighting for Phoenix because of our covenant with the team and the fans.”