from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

While the NHL gets closer to expansion – Las Vegas? Quebec City? Delay? Nowhere? – and persistent relocation rumors continue to swirl around the Carolina Hurricanes, new drama is developing within the franchise itself.

A lawsuit filed last week alleges Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. has defaulted on more than $100 million he borrowed from a trust established for his three adult sons, the plaintiffs, who also allege the trust was used in various ways to “support the Hurricanes.”

If Karmanos has been drawing on his sons’ trust fund to keep the Hurricanes afloat, it certainly makes you question what NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

“Mr. Karmanos has been for some time considering whether to take on a partner,” Bettman said Monday. “There’s no issue relating to the Hurricanes.”

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