If you’ve maintained any illusions that prospective Preds owner Jim Balsillie would give Nashville a fair chance to keep its NHL team, let Ken Whitehouse at Nashville Post set you straight:

The Canadian newspapers National Post and the Globe and Mail have posted stories in the last hour documenting moves that incoming Nashville Predators owner Jim Balsillie is making to relocate the team to Canada. In the National Post article, Balsillie is said to have filed a formal request with the National Hockey League, along with his ownership application, to be granted permission to relocate the team. Balsillie is asking that the contentious issue be handled at the same time is ownership application is considered on June 19 and 20 by the 30-member NHL Board of Governors.

In related news, the Globe and Mail is reporting that Balsillie has reached an agreement with the city of Hamilton, Ontario that would make it the new home of the Predators in the case of relocation. This news would come as a major disappointment to the Kitchener-Waterloo area, which had been courting Balsillie. 

NashvillePost.com sources close to the team say that both news items have outgoing Predators owner Craig Liepold and NHL Gary Bettman “irked” and that they are not pleased with the prospective buyer’s actions.

I’ve realized this afternoon that, as many Preds fans have since late May, I’ve been in denial thinking that Balsillie would give Nashville a chance to keep the team. I was already harboring lingering doubts, but this seals it for me. I do not believe that Mr. Balsillie has any intentions of keeping this team in Nashville one day longer than is required (and hopefully much earlier than that).

If Nashville wants the Preds to stay (and I think we do), we are going to have to fight for them.

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