Don't be ridiculous. Keep in mind what happened to the owner here. Moyes lost virtually all of his equity investment and is being sued on his personal guarantee (which personal guarantee is in place for every NHL team, BTW).
You are correct IMO that the NHL will not take a loss on the sale, but it is not for the reason you cited.
As an aside, this notion (propagated by you and Fugu, among others) that the sale price is going to be such an obstacle is IMO dreadfully wrongheaded. This NHL franchise is in any event going to be sold at a dramatic discount to other NHL franchises, thanks to the NHL having been the only party at the time willing to buy the asset on offer during the bankruptcy.
the issue of price is only relevant in terms of when the next purchaser decides to sell the franchise. Whether it is to another PHO purchaser or another city, that party is going to make back his equity investment. They only issue is how much it will impact borrowing costs, and that is not exactly a heck of a lot of money in the grand scheme. The asset is worth a lot more than $170M, plain and simple. Any attempts by a prospective purchaser will be shot down by the crafty guys at the NHL, who will point this out and dismiss such efforts at price reduction as the prospective purchaser simply being greedy.