You never can get a grip on slime — it just squirts out of your hands. Smells bad too.

What’s really interesting here is that Ballsillie now should get his day in court.

If he wins he wins.

If he has a chance of winning in court (no one can ever trust a US court after the Florida election fiasco, but you never know, and Gary will be guessing too) the NHL will have to deal with him because Gary has this image of himself and he couldn’t personally (aside from anything the current owners might say or do) stomach the chance of Balsillie winning even a partial victory.

Can you say “Non-disclosed agreement.”?

And Jim has deeeeep pockets, which equals leverage. And patience…how long has he been after a franchise? God knows the man must want to defeat Gary’s blocking almost as much as he wants a franchise in Southern Ontario. This is capital P personal. I’d love to see Gary cave and try to save face.

Squirm time Gary — it could just be squirm time here.

Gary knows all this, and while he may manage to squirm out of it again, he will know that things will never be the same and that Jim Blackberry will never quit.

As for the other owners, what will they think of Gary’s move to dismiss the current owner? What’s to stop him doing the dirty to them? Besides, a strong franchise to replace Phoenix would be directly financially beneficial to all 29 owners.

Where Gary keeps saying they would have to approve any sale in a feeble attempt to distance himself from personal involvement — “Hey, I’m just doing what’s best for the league as directed by the owners: they make the decisions!” — , he is also reminding them that they have the power to force things.

The Leafs and Sabres could see the move to Southern Ontario as a chance to cash in on “territorial rights”, too.

I see Paul Kelly has put the pressure on by saying this has to be resolved by the end of June — which hat did he pull that date from, I wonder? — for the good of the league.

Nice one there, Paul. This is May 6th.

Tick tick tick…