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Thursday, May 18, 2000
Phoenix rising
On the Slats rumour meter, that is
The Phoenix Coyotes have asked permission to talk to Edmonton Oilers general manager Glen Sather.
That's Phoenix. Not New York.
Says who? Says Sather. On the record. Quote-unquote.
"Phoenix asked permission to talk to me,'' he told The Edmonton Sun yesterday.
"I told them to phone our governor, Jim Hole. He told them to talk to our new chairman, Cal Nichols.''
Confirming that the Oilers had been asked permission by an NHL team to talk to Sather, Nichols would not say if the Oilers intend to give the team permission or not.
"We're thinking about how to do this,'' he said. "We neither want to prohibit or impede.''
Sather spit out the Phoenix thing in reaction to the latest round of "He's going to New York" stories, one of which alleged Oilers governor Jim Hole gave the Rangers permission to approach Sather weeks ago.
Hole yesterday denied doing any such thing.
"I have not given the New York Rangers permission to talk to Glen Sather about employment with the Rangers,'' said Hole.
HE WON'T SNEAK AROUND
"I talked to Glen this morning and he has not talked to the Rangers about employment, period. If Glen Sather is going to do something, he's not going to sneak around to do it. And according to the NHL bylaws, if the New York Rangers wanted to talk to anybody in the Oilers organization about employment, they'd have to do it in writing. To my knowledge they have not done that.''
Published suggestions that the Rangers believe they were given verbal permission by Hole to talk to Sather have yet to be confirmed.
There were allegedly Sather sightings in New York on the weekend. And there was allegedly a meeting between Rangers organization head Dave Checketts and Sather in Palm Springs several days ago.
Where there's smoke, there's fire?
Is it possible Sather has talked to Checketts, but that the Rangers boss was coming to the league's top general manager to ask advice on hiring a GM? Is it possible the Rangers are interested in Craig MacTavish as head coach for next year?
Sather, who would not confirm or deny whether he was in New York on the weekend, says he should not have to make any statements about anything.
"There is no offer from the New York Rangers. There's nothing. The sad part is that I have to make these comments.''
The Oilers GM is making about $3 million Cdn a year, with two years left on his contract.
There's the suggestion that Nichols and a group of Oilers owners would be delighted if Sather left Edmonton.
"To suggest that is insane,'' said Nichols. "That somebody would want to chase him out ... why would anybody want to do that?''
Why indeed? The guy saves the team more money than his salary the way he runs it. And the franchise, I guarantee you, is worth a whole lot more with Glen Sather as GM than it is without him.
Meanwhile, in Phoenix ...
A radio station reported Monday that Wayne Gretzky had accepted Steve Ellman's offer of majority ownership of the Coyotes.
Ellman denied it Tuesday.
"Wayne and I are trying to get something done,'' the developer told the Phoenix media. "You guys will hear something from me when and if we're going to make it happen. Until then, I have no comment.''
GREAT ONE GETS GREAT OFFER
Gretzky checked in with his own update.
"He made me a great offer,'' said The Great One. "I think it would be great to be a partner with him. I'm not going to leave him hanging, waiting for me to make up my mind. That wouldn't be fair to anyone.
"That's the thing I'm wrestling with right now. It would be a tremendous opportunity for me. I don't want to be a coach. I don't want to be a GM.
"My wife is leaving the decision to me. But she knows I love hockey.''
So what's Gretzky waiting for?
To find out if Sather would be his general manager?
Meanwhile, Ellman, who was supposed to pay current owner Richard Burke $10 million US yesterday as a down payment for purchase of the team, was given an additional week to come up with the money.
Is he waiting on Gretzky, who is waiting on Sather?
The plot thickens?
The plots thicken?
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