February 5, 2011, HockeyPrimeTime.com notebook on New Jersey Devils ownership situation

Devils ownership situation in flux

Atlantic

Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, February 04, 2011 16:10

Jeff Vanderbeek 'anticipates maintaining a controlling interest in the team' while the minority partner explores a sale. It's just another day of uncertainty in Newark. The bombshell went viral early Tuesday afternoon: A Bloomberg media writer named Michelle Smith wrote on Twitter that the New Jersey Devils were officially for sale. Almost instantly her post was re-tweeted by more than 100 members of the social networking site. Later, about two hours before Bloomberg media posted the full story about the potential sale, Devils Chairman and Managing Partner Jeff Vanderbeek acknowledged that the team was able to be purchased. AROUND THE ATLANTIC “As Managing Member of the New Jersey Devils, it is not my desire to sell the team,” Vanderbeek said in a statement. "My partner, Brick City, and I have different visions for the franchise. While Brick City has a right, under our partnership agreement, to explore a sale, and Moag and Co. has been retained to assist in these effort, I anticipate maintaining a controlling interest." The Devils are the second New York City metropolitan area professional sports franchise to announce it's looking for a minority owner. Fred and Jeff Wilpon, the father and son combination that control a majority portion of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, released a statement Friday and later confirmed on a conference call with reporters that they are offering “20 to 25 percent” of the franchise to a prospective buyer. Forbes valued the Mets as being worth $858 million in April 2010. Whoever buys Brick City’s percentage of the Devils – an email to a Prudential Center spokesman regarding clarification about the proposed sale wasn't returned by the time this story was published – will have partial ownership of the 11th-ranked NHL franchise, as per Forbes. According to Forbes and a Bloomberg story, while the city of Newark owns The Prudential Center, the Devils control the building’s non-hockey event usage. The announced sale was another in a line of punches to the Devils’ collective solar plexus. Despite what players told the New York Post, the team appears earmarked for the beginning of the end of its dynastic run. New Jersey had qualified for the playoffs 13 years in a row. The last non-playoff spring was 1995-96. Historically a fiscally conservative franchise, the Devils spent $148.5 million during the off-season and very early portion of the 2010-11 campaign in an effort to fortify what was thought of as a Cup contender. But the spending spree has not paid off on the ice. The Devils have the NHL’s worst record. In the interim, Ilya Kovalchuk was scratched from a game because he was 10 minutes late to an early-morning team meeting, then-rookie head coach John MacLean was fired and replaced with Jacques Lemaire, who recently announced he will not return to the franchise in the same capacity next season. These repeated blows have staggered a proud organization and its loyal fanbase, and caused many to raise repeated and pointed questions about its present and future. Maybe the quick and painful end of the era should not have been a surprise. Dynasties do not live forever. Notes Wednesday was a tough night for Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro. He was on the losing end of a 2-0 shutout to the Penguins and was dropped with one punch from Pittsburgh goaltender Brent Johnson in a late-game skirmish. … It was announced Friday that DiPietro would miss 4-6 weeks with facial fractures and knee swelling. … Dan Bylsma told reporters in New York Tuesday that Evgeni Malkin might play against the Islanders but decided after Wednesday’s early skate to not play him, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune Review. … Metro Newspaper in New York City looked at John Tortorella’s soon-to-be numbers game with his corps of forwards Wednesday. … The Associated Press examined the Flyers’ collective mindset following the All-Star Break. On Twitter: @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman Photos by Getty Images

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