Coyotes-to-NHL sale at hand?

The interminable Phoenix Coyotes sale saga may be almost over, or at least entering a new phase, after team owner Jerry Moyes yesterday reached an agreement to sell the bankrupt franchise to the NHL for $140 million. The deal still has to be signed off on by bankruptcy court judge Redfield Baum, but barring complaints from other creditors — say, Wayne Gretzky — that's expected to be resolved in the next few days. If the NHL does end up with full control of the Coyotes, expect to see a repeat of MLB's Montreal Expos relocation bidding war, with the caveat that in the Coyotes' case, the league has promised to spend at least the next year looking for local ownership. Of course, given that the two leading "local" owners are a guy from Chicago who wants Glendale to pay him to keep playing there and a group that wants to play home games in Canada, it's still likely to end up as a multi-city subsidy-grubbing campaign. Stay tuned.