Where hockey thrives

If the National Hockey League had played its cards right, one of its most troubled franchises would soon have a new home in a stable hockey market, with stable ownership and a stable future. Instead, having outsmarted itself in blocking the move of a U.S.-based team to Canada, the league has an unholy mess. Little more than a year ago, Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie was set to buy the foundering Nashville Predators and move them to Hamilton. It was a marriage made in heaven. Mr. Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research In Motion, is a dynamic and deep-pocketed owner of a kind the NHL needs more of. And a team in Hamilton would have thrived; more than 12,000 fans quickly put down deposits for season tickets in expectation of the Predators' arrival. But the NHL got cute. Claiming concern for whether the Predators remained in... [read full story]