Update: Canadiens not for sale – Gillett

DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette

Canadiens majority owner George N. Gillett Jr. vehemently denied on Thursday that his hockey club is for sale, contradicting a rumoured Forbes magazine report that ultimately never was published.

The phantom Forbes story deflected a little of the spotlight off the Canadiens' unveiling of Centennial Plaza, the ribbon-cutting  for the Bell Centre concourse tribute to the club's history coming on its 99th birthday.

And that deflection had Gillett much less than pleased.

The Colorado resident's finances have been ripe for  speculation in recent days. His cash flow and debt load have been scrutinized in several published reports, especially  related to his co-ownership of the Premier League's Liverpool  Football Club.

Gillett flatly denied comment Thursday when first asked about  a sale of the Canadiens, rumour of a Forbes story making the rounds early in the day but finally proving to have never been reported by the magazine.

Yet later, after a lengthy, spirited, off- the-record discussion with a small group of reporters, he  spoke for the record, saying that neither he nor as far as he  knew anyone in the organization has spoken to any individual  or party about the sale of the Canadiens.

"The Montreal Canadiens club has never been for sale," Gillett  said. "We have never prepared documents, materials. (I have)  never authorized anyone, never prepared materials to that  end.

"I'm angry that I need to keep denying (that the club is for  sale)."

Gillett bought a majority stake in the Canadiens in 2001,  acquiring the Bell (then Molson) Centre with the acquisition.

He has since broadened his sport holdings, which now include  co-ownership of Liverpool with fellow sports magnate Tom  Hicks and the primary stake in NASCAR's Gillett-Evernham  Motorsports, which yesterday was reported to be on the verge  of absorbing the Dodge operation of historic Petty Enterprises  for the 2009 stock-car racing season.

The phantom report Thursday had Gillett was asking $400 million for the  Canadiens, a team he purchased for $181 million and was  recently valued by Forbes.com at $334 million.

A Montreal newspaper report last month had BlackBerry head  Jim Balsillie saying the Canadiens were for sale. Balsillie, an unfulfilled NHL franchise suitor in recent years, denied he made those comments and said he apologized to Gillett for the  story, while both Gillett and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman vociferously denied the team was on the market.

On Thursday, Gillett floated the idea that he might be willing to entertain partnerships at some time in the future.

"We have received many inquiries over the years regarding a possible sale (of the Canadiens). We have never entertained  any of them," he said.

"We have thought on several occasions of trying to create a  way that we might create ... an investment strip that might  enable fans or interested parties in investing in one or more of  our sports properties.

"I presume that we will continue that process on occasion in the future."

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com