We Will See Jim Balsillie Again

Mark my words, Jim Balsillie will come back and will not rest until he gets his team.

The moxie that he possess is something that draws me in, especially when you see guys who could care less about owning a hockey club; Balsillie is a breath of fresh air. Though, his own downfall is being too anxious to own a team and usually ruins the deal by being overly aggressive. That was the case in the Phoenix Coyotes' case mostly due to the fact that the time line he put out there for a team was much too short to sort things out. However, Balsillie is getting closer and closer to getting it right, but no cigar just yet.

Frankly, had Balsillie been a little more leinent with his time line, had he been more flexible for when he wanted this to be solidified, then he probably could have gotten his team and maybe been able to move them to Hamilton. However, strong-arming the system doesn't often work out to be the best way to go about things. You have to wonder though, if the Balsillie camp will throw their hat into the ring to re-bid for the Coyotes now they could be purchased by anyone right now.

If he doesn't get back into the Phoenix gimmick, you can bet there's some owners out there that will be willing to listen to Balsillie's pitch if they are in trouble enough. The Panthers have had interests from some former baseball players, but those buyers may or may not actually be getting into the game. Plus, with Charles Wang having his regrets buying the Islanders and having issues with getting a new arena, you know that Balsillie may have been put on Wang's speed-dial now that he's a free agent prospective owner.

If Balsillie can calm down a little bit on his anxiousness, if he can be able to actually go somewhat by the way of the law, he will be fine. He got closer this time by going that route rather than the tactics he tried with the Penguins and Predators in the past. Maybe he just needs to get away from the letter P in the alphabet to be successful, since it hasn't worked for him thus far. Yet, this is another learning experience for Balsillie and his Make It Seven campaign was amazingly put together and got support very quickly and very noticeably. Balsillie is a great marketing man and a solid businessman. Right now, he just needs to have the patience to get things through to get an NHL team and he'll be perfectly fine.

I will make this prediction, which could be considered bold or obvious-- you be the judge: Jim Balsillie will be back and he will own a NHL franchise when all is said and done.