Katz eyes other ‘bleeding’ NHL teams

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This article was published 12/05/2010 (5660 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – Mayor Sam Katz said he isn’t surprised that Glendale’s city council agreed to bail out the NHL Coyotes — but he adds he believes there are plenty of troubled NHL teams that could come to Winnipeg within the next three years.

Katz said the Glendale council did what it thought it had to do to keep the Coyotes.

“When you’re trying to protect an investment that you’ve made, many people will tell you, quite often the hardest thing to do is walk away as opposed to potentially pouring more money into it,” Katz told reporters this morning.

“There are still several markets in the NHL in the United States that are bleeding and I don’t think they’ll be able to stop the bleeding, so it’s important for us to be ready, willing and able when the time comes.”

Katz said he’s confident Moose owner Mark Chipman will act when the time is right.

“The best thing that government can do is just keep it’s nose out of it. This will be private-sector driven, let them do what they do and when they’ve done something and if they require anything, they’ll come to you, and if not, they can do it all on their own, even better.”

Katz said Chipman has not asked city hall for any help in securing an NHL team.