Balsillie, who listed his personal worth at $3 billion, has said his bid obviously was the best and that a team would thrive in hockey-crazy Hamilton, while it could never succeed in Glendale.

The NHL board of governors voted 26-0 against Balsillie, labeling him untrustworthy. It is the third time Balsillie has tried and failed to buy an NHL team. Previous efforts to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators also fell through.

At the last minute when other potential bids fell through, the league offered $140 million to buy the team and try to resell it. Its first option was to resell the franchise to a purchaser to keep the team in Arizona. Failing that, the NHL said it would look to relocate the franchise.

“There are multiple factors that support the NHL’s bid,” the judge wrote.

However, he based his rejection of the league bid on that fact that it would pay all unsecured creditors in full except Moyes and Gretzky, who would get only a share of what was left after every other party got its money.

“One of the prime policies of bankruptcy is equality of distribution among creditors,” Baum wrote.

Moyes says he loaned about $100 million to the franchise, while Gretzky has a $22.5 million claim.

“There has been no determination that the Moyes and Gretzky claims are not ’legitimate creditors,”’ Baum said. “It would be inherently unjust for this court to deprive them of their possible rightful share of any proceeds without first providing all involved a fair trial on their claims.”

Just what happens next is uncertain in a complex case where more than 1,000 documents have been filed. The league has funded the franchise since last fall and the Coyotes open their season Saturday at Los Angeles.

Gretzky announced his resignation as coach last Thursday.

The unsecured creditors committee and the largest secured creditor, SOF Investment, backed the NHL bid.

The franchise has never turned a profit since moving from Winnipeg in 1996. Baum listed the results of the audit of the franchise that concluded the Coyotes had an operating loss of $54.8 million and a total loss of $72.1 million in 2008.

Baum also commented on the mountain of documents filed in the case:

“The attorneys for the parties have inundated the court with multiple motions, massive briefs and legal memorandums, numerous expert opinions on antitrust and other esoteric issues, conflicting declarations on issues tangentially related to the bankruptcy sale and the assertion of many satellite issues.”

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Heading to the Cup finals

Adam Henrique scored off a wild scramble in front early in OT and the New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 to advance to their first Stanley Cup finals since '03. The new Eastern champs will face LA next.

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Highlights: OT goal delivers Devils to Cup finals

  Check out highlights as the New Jersey Devils advanced to the Stanley Cup finals by defeating the New York Rangers, 3-2, in overtime.

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