Len Barrie, a B.C. property developer and former National Hockey League player, is poised to become a significant investor in the group taking over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Barrie, a journeyman who played for four NHL clubs in a career marked by lengthy stints in the minor leagues and Europe, could take a stake of as much as 47 per cent, people familiar with the situation say.
Movie producer Oren Koules's OK Hockey group reached a deal in mid-February to acquire the Lightning for $206-million (all currency U.S.) and existing debt. But it has been scrambling to come up with the bank financing needed to meet the purchase price.
Scandal-plagued French bank Société Générale pulled the plug on a loan agreement for at least $100-million when it suddenly shuttered its U.S. sports lending business in early February.
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- Edmonton Oilers
- Florida Panthers
- Los Angeles Kings
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Dan Boyle
- Vincent Lecavalier
- Rob Niedermayer
- Brad Richards
- Ryan Smyth
The bank financing issue is unrelated to Barrie's participation in the purchasing group, sources said. But the turmoil in the credit markets could delay completion of the sale for months.
Barrie would not comment on any possible deal or its terms and insisted that it's far too early to attach his name to the proposed new ownership.
Koules could not be reached for comment.
"My name always pops up because I said the dream some day would be to own an NHL team," Barrie said in an interview. "I definitely would love to look at it, but to say that I'm part of the group is premature."
But Barrie did not deny meeting with Koules in Tampa this week. He said he knows Koules through a mutual hockey friend in Los Angeles. Sources said Barrie participated in discussions with club executives about the Lightning's future direction.
Tampa subsequently signed defenceman Dan Boyle to a lucrative long-term contract, traded Brad Richards, its top-paid player, and vowed to do whatever is necessary to retain team leader Vincent Lecavalier well past the end of his contract in 2009.
One of the attractions of the Lightning acquisition is that it comes with 5.5 acres of undeveloped property, which would be appealing to someone such as Barrie, who is building a mammoth golf resort in Victoria.
The 1,300-acre resort, called Bear Mountain, includes two golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus and a commercial village and will number 6,000 homes when the 15-year project is completed.
Barrie, 38, did not set out to develop land when he retired as a player in 2001. But he got into a bitter property dispute with his home golf club that wound up in court and cost him and his family their playing rights.
He decided to build his own course, invited 15 other NHL players, including Rob Niedermayer, Ryan Smyth and Mike Vernon, to join him, and the project mushroomed.
"It's like when you get traded, you want to do well against your old team," Barrie said. "It drove all that stuff."
He has certainly had experience on that front.
After a stellar junior career in the WHL, Barrie began his professional career with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1990 (he had been drafted two years earlier by the Edmonton Oilers, but never got a contract offer), embarking on an odyssey familiar to many a journeyman player.
By the time he called it a day, he had suited up for 184 NHL games with the Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings and Florida Panthers. His career also included stops in such outposts as Long Beach, Calif., San Antonio, Tex., and Frankfurt, Germany.
Barrie, who owns the junior-A Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League, was previously rumoured to be part of an effort to buy the Tampa franchise by a group led by long-time NHL executive Doug MacLean and Florida real-estate developer Jeff Sherrin and including Koules.
That group reached a deal with Tampa's billionaire owner, William Davidson, last August, but soon split apart, reportedly over financial issues and a personality clash between MacLean and Koules.
Barrie said the rumour of his earlier involvement was untrue.
Koules, a producer of the hugely profitable Saw movie series, then formed his own group with movie partner Mark Burg and financier Russell Belinsky to launch a bid at the same $206-million price already accepted by Davidson's Palace Sports & Entertainment for the team, the arena lease and the property.
It could yet collapse if a banking replacement for Société Générale cannot be found by the May 29 deadline set by Palace Sports for the deal to close.
