“I don’t see a lot of guys that hated going to Arizona,” one player said. “Not always a lot of fans, but even one of my friends (who played there), he loved it in Arizona — the lifestyle and how it is down there. It is a good spot, but obviously, it’s got to be worth it as well.”
“Arizona just needs better owners,” another player said.
The same could be said for Atlanta. That’s why the NHL is
entertaining a return to a northern suburb not far from where the Braves play. But there wasn’t as much passion about returning to a market that twice previously had NHL teams, perhaps in part because most NHL players now are too young to have played
“They’ve tried Atlanta twice, and it failed twice, and I love Arizona, but it hasn’t worked, and I don’t think a new stadium is going to change that unfortunately,” one player said.
Some don’t think the league should return to either. Here’s a sampling from four players:
“There’s a lot of other cities that would die to have an NHL team.”
“There’s a reason why it hasn’t worked before, so maybe try something new.”
“Let’s explore another U.S. market or Canada.”
“I feel like it’s not good when you come back to the same city you just left.”
Clayton Keller, who played all of his eight NHL seasons in Arizona before moving with the team to Utah, hopes the market gets another chance.
“It would be hard to not bring a team back there,” he said, answering the question knowing it would be attributed. “There’s so many great fans there and people around the organization: the Shane Doans, the Ray Whitneys, a lot of guys involved in the hockey community there still to do this day. There’s a long list of guys that still live there, their kids play there. It definitely would be amazing if they brought it back one day.”
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