Now that just about everyone in the National Hockey League has denied that anyone at any level of the game has ever discussed, even informally, the prospect of having two NHL teams at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, it might be time to remind ourselves that you can’t believe everything you read.
Especially if the premise of the story comes with “Un-named Sources.”
The cornerstone of the Globe and Mail story (and don’t worry, when we originally read the story on the news at 92-CITI-FM last week, as always, we went out of our way to credit the Globe for their fine reporting), Joe Aiello and I discussed the fact that we couldn’t believe that the NHL would really, truly consider putting another team in Toronto.
Both of us contended that if RIM’s Jim Balsillie — the Blackberry inventor who would very much like to buy a chunk of any NHL team and move it to Ontario — actually did realize his dream, his best bet would be to build an arena on the 401 near Kitchener and draw from a huge fan base in Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge, Brantford, Brampton, Georgetown, London, Fergus, St. Thomas, St. Mary’s Stratford etc., etc.
But a second team in Toronto? Who said that?
Evidently, nobody.
Commissioner Gary Bettman immediately denied the story, but hey, most Canadian hockey fans tend not to believe Bettman at the best of times. However, when everyone from MLSE’s Richard Peddie to the general managers of just about every team in the NHL denied EVER having even suggested or heard a suggestion that the league might put a second team — an expansion team no less — into Toronto’s ACC, it was the embarrassing end for a newspaper reporter’s best friend, ol’ Un-named Sources.
Ultimately, this story was a lot like most NHL trade rumours you hear (or Hockey Night in Canada‘s made-up yarn that Tampa owner Len Barrie went into the Lightning dressing room and started writing up plays on a chalkboard). Until the trade deadline rolls around and GMs actually talk publicly about potential deals, none of those rumours are true. They are all based on “un-named sources,” which means they were probably made up over copious barley sandwiches.
So here’s a tip, don’t believe any story based on “un-named sources.” Especially, when it comes to our favourite rumour (one that always seems to be full of Un-named Sources): The Return of the Jets.