Three things to think about as the U.S. economy craters:
(1) This could be the biggest “no surprise there” announcement in the NHL this season. Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks put former Winnipeg Jets goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers.
Khabibulin is entering the final season of a four-year $27-million contract, but this past off-season, the Blackhawks signed free agent goalie Cristobal Huet to a four-year $22.5-million contract, giving the Hawks two No. 1 goaltenders. One had to go and yesterday it was Khabby.
He was a great goaltender for a long time, but in the end, his success priced him out of the market.
(2) At the start of this season, the St. Louis Rams were convinced a once-successful NFL assistant coach named Scott Linehan would make a great head coach. Sadly, Linehan wasn’t the answer to the Rams’ problems.
So on Monday, Rams ownership admitted its mistake and fired Linehan after four consecutive lopsided losses to open the season. Now, if someone can just convince the Minnesota Vikings that Brad Childress should go…
(3) And Canadian Jim Balsillie, founder of Reasearch in Motion, the inventor of the Blackberry (no, it wasn’t John McCain) is apparently once again close to finalizing a deal to purchase the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
Last year, the NHL would be dead set against a Canadian billionaire buying a U.S.-based franchise if there was even any thought that the wealthy Canuck might move the team to Canada.
Now, with the U.S. economy in deep, deep trouble, there is a good chance that the NHL brass will allow teams to return to a country with a less-volatile, more stable economic future.
Frankly, if I owned Nashville, Phoenix (a failed franchise that returned to Winnipeg for a pre-season game in order to guarantee a better gate), Atlanta, Florida, the Islanders or Washington, I’d give serious thought to moving to a country that actually likes hockey enough to pay the NHL’s grossly inflated ticket prices.