Per Friedman: Coyotes players told team moving to Utah starting next season (Mod warning post #50)

[Daximus]

All the name ideas..

Utah Yeti
Utah Raptors
Utah Swarm
Utah Wasps
Utah Stingers
Utah What I Tah?
Utah Vultures
Utah Ice-o-topes

 

[Mach2]

Good ESPN article about Coyotes' history and possible move to Utah:
Leaving Arizona: Everything you need to know about the Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City

 

[gritdash60]

I knew nothing about Salt Lake City so i spent like 2hours of reading about it, what a interesting city. The lake having 2 different colors north and south is wild to me, some other things that i picked up is the width of the streets and the views people see from their front yard. I think most Finnish people would enjoy living there, not sure about Maccelli with his Italian roots.

Im not going to say anything about the religion of those people or i will have a message with "warning: thisandthat" in my inbox soon.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

16-16...... and both Toronto and Detroit requested the next time realignment happened..... this is why there's 2 divisions per conference, not 3 both were in the same conference/division that Chicago is in

Right...but I'm talking about a future scenario where, say, Arizona and Houston get teams before Atlanta and a team would need to be moved to the East to "balance" things out for a couple of years until the need to recalibrate comes about.

This is why my longstanding idea to scatter all the teams across all the divisions, so that every division spans coast-to-coast, makes sense. We don't have this ongoing debate about teams being lopsided across time zones, don't have to debate whether someone has to be added in the East to balance someone being in the West, don't have to worry about moving someone from the Eastern Time Zone west / Central Time Zone east but other CTZ teams get stuck in the West, ... scatter them, you get none of that.

Most teams get a rival, you pair them up and they stay in the same division. You otherwise, make it so there's roughly the same number of teams East vs. West in a division. Then, if someone gets moved, no big deal - no one has to change divisions. Or, you make a swap(s) to re-balance travel for the respective divisions.

Yes, I know why it won't happen, but it would avoid so many complaints that have long existed and avoid a ton of these concerns re: expansion and relocation and where teams go.

 

[Voight]

I don't think that's clear. I was reading something earlier that this isn't going to be like other relocations and the Coyotes will be considered suspended.

But all their players are going to the Utah team and so it will be treated as a brand new franchise with no history, despite players having history with a previous franchise that may return?

So say Utah has Clayton Keller score 50 goals in their first season, the Coyotes are suspended.

Coyotes come back in 2030 and Keller's stats are still there for the time, then it starts new with all the new players. It just seems so damn absurd. But the absurd nature of history and the NHL went out the window when the Winnipeg Jets were brought back and were not associated with the former team aside from logo and location. But for that they kept the Thrashers history upon the move, but I guess they didn't have to?

My vote then is still moving the Coyotes to Atlanta, keeping the history, and changing back to the Atlanta Thrashers to give everyone headaches when looking at historical stats.

Their choice is either do what the NFL did with the Browns or just let things be as they would with any relocation. They can get Smith to "sell" them the trademarks/IP for a future team but IMO it wouldn't make sense to do what the NFL did with the Browns. They were a historic franchise with a long history.... not so much with Phoenix (aside from the Winnipeg years)

 

[Ratsreign]

This whole saga has been a really shitty thing to drag a fanbase through. I was a Sonics fan so I can imagine their anger over all this, and it's totally justified.

How much harder is it to build a fanbase when (seemingly) every year of their existence has been in the shadow of possible relocation?
“Not if....when they move”. I can see fans remaining aloof from such a situation.
That sentiment had an effect in FL for years before Viola/Cifu bought the team. And it took them awhile to win over those jaded by past ownership’s shitshows.

 

[joestevens29]

Embarrassing that the NHL even sold the team to Merulo, bush league owner. He was denied an NBA franchise in the past because the NBA board of governors and the team he was purchasing ( Atlanta Hawks) didn’t believe had sufficient funds to run the franchise in a first class manner. They were right.

I mean how many other owners were willing to buy the team and keep them there is the answer? NHL was doing their best to keep the team there and unfortunately the owner that was available was as bad as the others.

 

[Tawnos]

Coyotes were kicked out of their arena (lease was not renewed) by the city of Glendale because they weren’t earning enough revenue to cover facility costs, rent etc.

They had to play at Mullet Arena in a pinch, Coyotes ownership was looking for other solutions (city of Tempe shot down an arena plan IIRC).

In a last ditch effort the Coyotes decided to bid on a land auction outside of Scottsdale. But the NHL realized, that even if the Coyotes won (which the probably wouldn’t, mayor of Scottsdale wasn’t keen on using city resources to build the arena on land they wouldn’t profit much from) that Arizona would have to play at Mullet arena for another 4 years at least. That is unacceptable for a pro franchise.

Utah ownership (Smith) has been aggressive throughout this process to bring a team to Salt Lake. They will share the arena with the Jazz (infrastructure is there, it’s not perfect but better than 5,000 seat arena). NHL decides to rip the bandaid and cut their losses with Arizona and move the team to a market that they believe will capture a decent amount of potential growth.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong on any of this, this is just my understanding of the situation

OK, a couple of clarifications.

Glendale did not kick the Coyotes out. The city wanted a long-term lease (15 years, if I remember) and the Coyotes wanted a short term lease. When they couldn't agree, the Coyotes voluntarily chose to go to Mullett. They didn't get kicked out. Glendale wanted them to stay, but also understandably did not want to be a temporary home while Meruelo built a competing arena.

The targeted timeline to be at Mullett would have been 3 more years, not 4. If everything went right from the auction to shovels in the ground to opening, it would be ready for the 27-28 season. Unclear if that meant opening night of the 27-28 season or if they might need an Islanders-style 2 month road trip to start the year. Interestingly enough, this would have been the exact same timeline that would have happened with the Tempe proposal that got voted down, because that one required land remediation before construction.

Nothing you said about Utah is wrong, but I think it's important context to know that the 100% will be getting a new arena. Since they have an NHL team, that new arena is going to be more suitable for hockey than the current one is.

 

[JKG33]

I knew nothing about Salt Lake City so i spent like 2hours of reading about it, what a interesting city. The lake having 2 different colors north and south is wild to me, some other things that i picked up is the width of the streets and the views people see from their front yard. I think most Finnish people would enjoy living there, not sure about Maccelli with his Italian roots.

Im not going to say anything about the religion of those people or i will have a message with "warning: thisandthat" in my inbox soon.

As someone that's been to SLC and surrounding area several times, the whole "hurr durr mormons bad" routine is overblown. Are there some weirdos there? Sure, but you could say the same thing about various groups in every city big enough for pro sports.

SLC is an absolutely beautiful city, and there's lots of money there. Sure for young players that like to party it's not an LA/FLA/LV/NSH/NYC but most places aren't. But any NHLer looking to start a family should love it. Certainly more of a family type of city than most.

I might be biased having spent a hockey season split between western Colorado and Idaho, but I love the area. I think you're bang on about some of the European players liking it too.

 

[Jamaican Patty]

All the name ideas..

Utah Yeti
Utah Raptors
Utah Swarm
Utah Wasps
Utah Stingers
Utah What I Tah?
Utah Vultures
Utah Ice-o-topes

Utah Sodium Attack
Salt Lake Shakers

 

[Tawnos]

Salt Lake Assault?

 

[gritdash60]

As someone that's been to SLC and surrounding area several times, the whole "hurr durr mormons bad" routine is overblown. Are there some weirdos there? Sure, but you could say the same thing about various groups in every city big enough for pro sports.

SLC is an absolutely beautiful city, and there's lots of money there. Sure for young players that like to party it's not an LA/FLA/LV/NSH/NYC but most places aren't. But any NHLer looking to start a family should love it. There's a lot of money in the area, it's certainly more of a family type of city than most.

I might be biased having spent a hockey season split between western Colorado and Idaho, but I love the area. I think you're bang on about some of the European players liking it too.

After spending 2 or more hours reading about SLC im conviced it would be better place to live than my 30k people "city" in Finland hahah

 

[Dog]

Salt Lake City Hives

 

[robertmac43]

So wait, it's official?

 

[GKJ]

This starts with a lot of Arizona talk and some of the terms and recent events going back to the Tempe vote.

-Tempe vote was when the NHL started seeing Meruelo differently bc they said they were so sure they would win and instead got hammered.

-Meruelo can get back in at $1B, if he hits certain benchmarks, gets arena built within 5 years, and gets BOG approval (who are very pissed off). He must win the June 27 auction. He also ostensibly has a seat at the kids table in the owners room.

-Bettman heard the noise from the PA, to which this is their #2 issue behind the international schedule.

-Arizona likely has a gag order that Bill Armstrong may have went around to inform players.

-Meruelo keeping the Roadrunners as part of the deal so their business ops can keep their jobs and keep the youth programs. Roadrunners may play at Mullett. Affiliation with Utah is not part of the deal, but can still happen.

 

[Dr Pepper]

So wait, it's official?

Not yet.

My guess is the league wants to wait until Arizona wraps up Game 82, and then they'll announce it.

Or maybe they hold off until after the playoffs, but why delay the inevitable, y'know?

 

[chethejet]

Good move. Admitting the mis-management of the Yotes time in the desert and NHL running the team had to end. I think the shakers is the nickname. Plus the roster and picks they are primed to be really good going forward and with real capital behind them, Cap benefits and more revenue the players have to like this move.

 

[robertmac43]

Or maybe they hold off until after the playoffs, but why delay the inevitable, y'know?

Feels like a 'rip the band aid off' kind of situation.

 

[FrozenKing18]

All the name ideas..

Utah Yeti
Utah Raptors
Utah Swarm
Utah Wasps
Utah Stingers
Utah What I Tah?
Utah Vultures
Utah Ice-o-topes

I'm still on the Utah Roadrunners just for the irony

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Or maybe they hold off until after the playoffs, but why delay the inevitable, y'know?

The NHL would never be so short-sighted as to announce something like this in the middle of their flagship product with millions of eyes focused on...

...oh. Yeah, okay. During the playoffs makes sense, actually.

 

[joestevens29]

Not yet.

My guess is the league wants to wait until Arizona wraps up Game 82, and then they'll announce it.

Or maybe they hold off until after the playoffs, but why delay the inevitable, y'know?

Sounds like they want the deal finalized this week before playoffs start.

I assume the NHL doesn't want this overshadowing the playoffs and in a perfect world they probably never really wanted anything to be leaked until after the playoffs, but we are passed that now.

NHL wants Arizona Coyotes move to Salt Lake City settled before playoffs | TSN

The NHL wants to have the Arizona Coyotes relocation to Salt Lake City settled before the NHL playoffs begin this weekend, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports.

www.tsn.ca

 

[robertmac43]

Utah Yeti would be kind of fun.

 

[KeydGV21]

This is why my longstanding idea to scatter all the teams across all the divisions, so that every division spans coast-to-coast, makes sense. We don't have this ongoing debate about teams being lopsided across time zones, don't have to debate whether someone has to be added in the East to balance someone being in the West, don't have to worry about moving someone from the Eastern Time Zone west / Central Time Zone east but other CTZ teams get stuck in the West, ... scatter them, you get none of that.

Most teams get a rival, you pair them up and they stay in the same division. You otherwise, make it so there's roughly the same number of teams East vs. West in a division. Then, if someone gets moved, no big deal - no one has to change divisions. Or, you make a swap(s) to re-balance travel for the respective divisions.

Yes, I know why it won't happen, but it would avoid so many complaints that have long existed and avoid a ton of these concerns re: expansion and relocation and where teams go.

Literally nothing makes sense about having more east coast teams play at 10:00 and west coast teams play at 4…

It’s bad enough the NHL insists that roughly 20% of a teams games are played at a really inconvenient time already…

 

[Osakahaus]

Despite the deal, theres no way the NHL gets back in bed with Meruello is there? As more comes out the only conclusion is that this ownership group is a complete disaster.

What a swindling for Meruello, triples a 300M investment just to go away.

Meruelo is basically the worst owner in sports since Loria if everything he's done is true.

 

[StreetHawk]

I mean how many other owners were willing to buy the team and keep them there is the answer? NHL was doing their best to keep the team there and unfortunately the owner that was available was as bad as the others.

LeBlanc, Barraway, Meurelo. The 3 owners post Moyes after the bankruptcy. Coyotes never had a good owner which is absolutely correct.
But, then ask the question, why is that? Why did no one else view the Coyotes as a good investment over the past 15 years than these 3 parties?

These were the parties that the NHL entrusted the Coyotes to, to either make Glendale work or secure another arena.

It's 100% on the NHL. If you are not able to find a good owner, you either keep holding onto the team until you do, and if you can't, they should have been moved earlier.

It's just the reality of sports business.

Footprint wasn't built with NHL in mind, thanks to Zeigler advising Coangelo that the NHL wasn't planning on going to AZ. Coyotes chose to go to Glendale which wasn't where their fanbase was. Now, the metro PHX area has 2 18K indoor arenas. When the Suns lease with Footprint was close to being up, the Suns wanted no part of sharing a new arena with the Coyotes. They were not going to go from almost all revenue from Footprint to 50% of the revenue from a new arena. And Sarver neither had the desire nor the funds to purchase the Coyotes. Thus, Footprint gets a reno and remain BB specific.