The battle between the NHL and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie over the ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes has garnered considerable headlines over the past several months and is expected to be resolved by a bankruptcy court judge within the next two weeks.

If the judge rules in favor of Balsillie, who last week increased his bid to an eye-popping $242.5 million – far more than the franchise is worth –it could set in motion a legal challenge by the NHL to prevent him from moving the Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario either this season or next.

If however the ruling goes in favor of the NHL, the league might be stuck with a money-losing franchise it might be unable to find a new owner for which it might have to eventually consider relocating anyway.

All of this is because the NHL doesn’t want Balsillie as a team owner, moving a franchise to a region the league probably has earmarked for an expansion franchise and the lucrative fees for the league governors which comes from that.

Once this situation is eventually resolved the NHL might have other team ownership woes to address.

Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes recently expressed doubt to the Associated Press that NHL hockey can survive in the American south.

"I put plenty of money in it, I put a lot of time in it. I gave it the best try I could. Hockey will not work in the South. Mr. Bettman's plan is not working out”, said Moyes.

It’s difficult to dispute Moyes’ claim when one examines the status of several southern-based NHL franchises.

The Globe & Mail’s James Mirtle has been following the Coyotes ownership battle closely this summer and in a recent post noted Moyes claimed Dallas, Atlanta and Tampa Bay were ‘all in trouble’, suggesting those clubs “have got to go north where everybody loves hockey”.

It wasn’t surprising to hear Atlanta and Tampa Bay listed amongst those in trouble as the woes of the Thrashers and Lightning have been well-documented in recent years.

Moyes could’ve also included the Florida Panthers, whose expected sale to Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. recently hit a snag as it reportedly didn’t satisfy the league’s ownership requirements, which the Miami Herald explained as “the buyer, a public company, does not have a primary investor with a substantial equity stake.”

The Nashville Predators could also be included in that list, for while their ownership situation has apparently stabilized they’re not out of the woods yet if last season’s attendance figures (25^th overall, averaging 14, 428) is anything to go by.

It should be troubling however for the league if as Moyes suggests the Stars are in trouble. Dallas had been for several years earlier in this decade among the league’s top teams in attendance as well as a perennial Stanley Cup contender in the late 1990s through to 2004.

But the recession caught up with team owner Tom Hicks and his free-spending ways, and combined with a decline in the team’s performance in recent years sets up speculation Hicks might try to dump the franchise. He’s denied it but if Moyes’ comments are anything to go by the Stars could be in more trouble than we’ve been led to believe.

The New York Islanders are also a team which could face the prospect of relocation if the long-awaited-and-debated “Lighthouse Project” fails to get off the ground in the coming months.

Owner Charles Wang has been patiently trying to wangle local support for a new arena complex for the Islanders but it’s been suggested by those who know Wang, including former Islanders general manager Mike Milbury, that if the project hasn’t been approved by next summer the team could be sold and potentially moved.

This isn’t the first time however we’ve heard tales of doom and gloom for some NHL franchises. Earlier in the decade the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres all filed for bankruptcy and were ultimately saved by new owners who kept the franchises where they were.

Ten years ago we were warned the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks could be moved if the Canadian government failed to provide tax breaks. It didn’t happen and the teams stayed put, although it required a league-funded assistance program to help those franchises until such time as the value of the Canadian dollar improved by the middle of this decade.

It’s possible most of those franchisez Moyes mentioned could remain where they are in the coming years, maybe with some of them under new ownership, but it appears however the NHL’s problems with some southern-based teams won’t be alleviated once the Coyotes situation is settled.