You can click on the story for all the details, but the Globe and Mail’s David Shoalts has an interesting read on Oilers owner Darryl Katz and his purported attempt to buy the OHL’s Erie Otters, move them to Hamilton, and “take control of his ultimate prize – the hockey lease at Copps Coliseum.”
Why would Katz have wanted control of the hockey lease at Copps Coliseum? So he could threaten to move the Oilers to Hamilton in order to get more public funding for a new Edmonton arena, of course.
Given Katz admitted to, and apologized for, using Seattle as leverage to get a better arena deal, it’s hard not to believe the story.
The Oilers’ new rink is currently under construction in downtown Edmonton, set to open in 2016.