NHL • Tampa Bay Lightning

Did anyone call Jim Balsillie?

It was just a couple weeks ago that Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie had the rug pulled out from under him when the Predators rejected his $220 million bid for the team and sold out to a bunch of locals for $180 million. Now it seems another hockey team is changing hands, and Jimmy wasn’t even in on the dealing.

AOL Fanhouse is reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning is being sold by Palace Sports to a group led by Doug MacLean, the former coach of the Florida Panthers and GM in Columbus. No word yet on the price, but considering the Bolts have managed to build a fan base in the tropical heat and won the Stanley Cup just a couple seasons ago I’m betting it’s a lot more than what those hillbillies paid for the sadsack Preds up in Nashville.

But still, couldn’t Bill Davidson have put in a call to Balsillie to at least let him know the team was going on the block? Maybe Gary Bettman told Davidson to keep the deal on the DL because he didn’t want to have to break it to Balsillie once again that, no, the NHL won’t let him move a team to Hamilton. That just leads to tears and who can stand to see billionaire Canadians cry?

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