Matt Hulsizer is the mystery potential buyer of the Coyotes

If you’ve been wondering just who the super secret interested party is that wants to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, you don’t have to hold your breath waiting to see who it is anymore. Matt Hulsizer, the CEO of PEAK6 Investments is apparently the man on the spot to try and ensure that the Coyotes will stay in Glendale. Hulsizer is based out of Chicago and is a former college hockey player, so he’s got that going for him which is nice.

ESPN’s Scott Burnside tells us about Matt Hulsizer, the latest potential hero to hockey fans in the desert and what he brings to the table as a potential buyer.

Although Hulsizer could not be reached for comment, sources familiar with the businessman and situation in Phoenix believe he may be the answer to the NHL’s search for a viable owner.

In fact a number of sources said he represents the last, best chance to keep this team in Arizona.

“He has an unbelievable financial mind,” one source that has known Hulsizer for years told ESPN.com.

“He’s exactly the kind of guy that the league needs. He’s a legitimate hockey guy with a lot of money.”

Added another source familiar with the situation in Arizona said, “He dwarfs [Jerry] Reinsdorf when it comes to personal net worth. He’s the real deal.”

Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls, was in the running to buy the team but the city refused to meet his demands on a new lease agreement.

If Hulsizer is indeed the real deal then this is a tremendous victory for the City of Glendale and hockey fans in Arizona who have grown to love the Coyotes. The only question that comes to mind now for me is: Where has this guy been since the beginning? After all, if he “dwarfs” Jerry Reinsdorf in net worth that’s a tremendous statement considering that Reinsdorf owns both the Chicago White Sox in Major League Baseball and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. You can’t exactly be a peddler and own two major sports franchises.

Of course, this is now the third time in the last year that we’ve been told that a new contender to buy the team has risen from out of nowhere so you’ll have to pardon us if we feel a bit reserved in our excitement to crown Matt Hulsizer as the new King of Glendale and hockey and desert friendship.

We saw Jerry Reinsdorf get trotted in as the league-mandated hero to help buy a stay of execution for the Glendale city council when the NHL was ready to start sniffing around to guys like David Thomson in Winnipeg. That time bought with Reinsdorf was able to help unearth Ice Edge Holdings who then managed to not work out a deal with the City of Glendale and they’re now apparently ready to give way to Hulsizer much in the same way. Instead of having me rail about this, Travis Hair at Five For Howling does all the speculating for me instead.

THIS SECTION IS PURE SPECULATION: Doesn’t his story seem awfully similar to that of the guys in Ice Edge? Toss in the statements of some of the principles in the group and suddenly it seems like they’re not just bystanders watching another guy come in and take over. In my purely speculative opinion Ice Edge didn’t have whatever monetary levels the NHL wanted and went looking to guys they knew that might be interested.

Hulsizer may have been interested all on his own too, but with the business circles these parties run in it’s not out of the question that Hulsizer is the deep pockets running the group while Ice Edge takes a small role in running the team. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Anthony LeBlanc running some part of the team while Hulsizer funds it.

There are a lot of similarities here and the similarities all seem to boil down to buying more time for the NHL to supply hope to the fans in Arizona that they’ll be keeping a team there. Meanwhile, time ticks away and it’s the biggest enemy to the City of Glendale because at some point, the NHL is going to get tired of waiting to be paid back on their investment in the team and the city. The NHL isn’t in business to lose money and while the City of Glendale did their part in paying off $25 million to make sure the NHL didn’t eat a loss this year.

While we’re not about to declare Matt Hulsizer the savior, retaining hope is key for the tenuous state of hockey in Glendale. Now the Coyotes have to make sure to keep doing their part on the ice to keep the fan interest high. If things go cold in the standings, things could take a very ugly turn.