from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times,

A major investment group trying to bring the NHL to Seattle emerged on Thursday with word it is working with the league, potential arena builder Chris Hansen and top municipal officials to get a deal done.

Vancouver, B.C., native Victor Coleman, now a major Los Angeles real estate mogul, and longtime hedge fund manager Jonathan Glaser are heading the group, which has engaged in extensive dialogue with various entities since last year to land an NHL expansion franchise. Their latest step was a meeting last week in Seattle with Mayor Ed Murray, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and others to try to forge common ground on the arena issue.

Murray said Thursday he let the group know that the city council is not prepared to rework a Memorandum of Understanding between the city, county and Hansen to build a Sodo arena for a hockey team ahead of an NBA franchise.

“They wanted to explore the possibility of opening the MOU so a hockey team would go first,” Murray said. “My read right now is that opening up the MOU is not something the council is interested in at this time.”

But sources with knowledge of the meeting indicate that dialogue remains ongoing with Hansen and that the NHL hasn’t given up on efforts to get a team in here ahead of the NBA.

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