Glendale, AZ (Sports Network) - National Hockey League commissioner Gary
Bettman announced on Monday that the Phoenix Coyotes will be sold to a group
led by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison.
The tentative deal will be finalized in the "not so distant future," Bettman
said at a press conference announcing the agreement, later adding that he
hoped it would be completed in "weeks as opposed to months."
The team, which is currently owned by the NHL, has been in turmoil ever since
former owner Jerry Moyes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. Several
bids for the team have fallen through, including some potential buyers that
had hoped to move the team.
The announcement comes just an hour before the team is set to play Game 5 of a
Western Conference semifinal series against Nashville. A win for the Coyotes
will move them to the conference finals for the first time in franchise
history.
"At the end of the day, we didn't want this to be a distraction" from the
playoff game, Jamison said as the press conference concluded.
The Sports Network