Coyotes co-owner LeBlanc calls Glendale's actions 'cheap political gamesmanship'

Anthony LeBlanc is not a happy man.

The Arizona Coyotes co-owner, president and CEO appeared on the Doug and Wolf Show on Arizona Sports Radio on Thursday, and expressed his very clear and strong displeasure over the City of Glendale's decision to end the lease agreement with the club the previous night.

"This is cheap political gamesmanship," LeBlanc said. "They have no case."

He also affirmed NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's comments during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. "I'm really not concerned about the Coyotes," Bettman admitted. "If I lived in Glendale, I would be concerned about my government."

LeBlanc said the whole situation is a threat to try and get the team to renegotiate the existing deal, and one that came out of the blue, at that.

LeBlanc said the Coyotes and their lawyers will fight the decision tooth and nail, and that he expects the court to uphold the original lease agreement, which is barely two years old.

He added that there's no way the club will enter into a new, renegotiated deal with the city, but said there's no real contingency plan should a judge rule that Glendale has the right to terminate the lease.

"Hopefully that's a place I don't have to go to," he said. "We are focused on staying at Gila River Arena."

The NHL affirmed that sentiment in a statement Thursday, via Craig Morgan of FOX Sports Arizona:

The National Hockey League stands by, and will fully support the Arizona Coyotes in their efforts to vindicate their contractual rights in response to last night's outrageous and irresponsible action by the City of Glendale.

We continue to proceed on the basis that the Coyotes will remain in Glendale and will be playing their home games at Gila River Arena.

And so another page in this never-ending saga is written.