PORTLAND, Maine -- According to a Maine Mariners official, the American Hockey League team has been sold to the New Jersey Devils.
But a spokesman for the Devils, who just concluded their maiden season in the National Hockey League, said the sale has not been consummated.
Mariners president Ed Anderson said Friday the Mariners have been sold by their parent club, the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. He said the team's name, logo and AHL territorial rights have been tranferred to the Devils.
Anderson, in Lake Tahoe, Nev., for the AHL meetings said he was told by Flyers president Jay Snider the team had been sold.
Anderson said a press conference would be held in Portland Tuesday to officially announce the transaction.
But Devils president Bob Butera denied the purchase.
'That's premature. We have been negotiating three different situations, one of which is the Flyers,' he said. 'We should conclude what we are going to do by next week.'
The Flyers were expected to share the AHL franchise in Springfield with the Chicago Black Hawks.
Bob McCammon, the newly appointed general manager of the Flyers said, 'this is strictly a business move. We're restructuring the entire organization.
During the Flyers' most recent contract negotiations with officials of the Mariners' home arena -- the Cumberland County Civic Center -- they reported losing $300,000 a year.
