Gary Bettman would prefer to see the Phoenix Coyotes move to Winnipeg than Hamilton, according to court documents filed as part of the NHL team's bankruptcy case.
A lawyer who works for Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes says the NHL commissioner told him that last month after he contacted the league to let it know that there was a Canadian purchaser who was interested in moving the team to southern Ontario.
In an affidavit filed Friday, Earl Scudder says that Bettman informed him Hamilton wasn't an ideal destination because Copps Coliseum is over 30 years old, saying `if the team did return to Canada, it would be to Winnipeg.'
The franchise moved to Phoenix from the Manitoba capital in 1996.
Scudder's affidavit also says that Bettman said the only way a team would end up in southern Ontario is through expansion.
His sworn statement was one of several documents submitted to the Arizona bankruptcy court by Moyes's lawyers on Friday. In one filing, the NHL is accused of looking out for its own interests rather than those of the creditors who would be paid if Jim Balsillie's US$212.5-million bid to purchase the team was allowed to go through.
