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Edmonton Oilers' Lennart Petrell, centre, and Nashville Predators Craig Smith, right, crash the net of goalie Anders Lindback, during second period NHL hockey action in Edmonton, on Monday.John Ulan/The Canadian Press

There are more interesting shenanigans happening in Nashville between the city, the state and the Predators.

According to an investigation by Nashville television station NewsChannel 5, the Predators did some fancy dancing with the state to get more money out of the taxpayers than is called for under their lease agreement with the city for Bridgestone Arena. The first story on newschannel5.com outlines an end-run by the Predators around the city.

Follow-up stories deal with the Predators hiring a lobbyist to get the state of Tennessee to change some tax legislation to throw more money their way while the city remained in the dark, and poking holes in a rebuttal Predators president Sean Henry made to a local blogger.

Once you get to these stories on the television station's web site, you will also see previous ones about more slippery dealings when it comes to the contract for the concessions at Bridgestone Arena. These are well worth reading because they offer a glimpse into the way the NHL does business.

Jeremy Jacobs, owner of the Boston Bruins, is the most powerful governor in the NHL. He also just happens to own Delaware North, which operates the concessions at most NHL arenas. That is no coincidence. NewsChannel 5 uncovered some interesting stuff about how the Predators and Delaware North do business.

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