Coyotes on the move to Utah?
Coyotes players have been informed the NHL club is expected to relocate to Salt Lake City, a person with knowledge of the meeting said Friday night.
General manager Bill Armstrong flew to Edmonton, Alberta, to tell players about the team’s potential move to Utah before its game against the Oilers, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in an email to the AP that Coyotes players “were given an update on the current situation,” before adding that nothing regarding the franchise’s relocation has been completed yet.
Players and officials could visit Salt Lake City next week, possibly as soon as after the season finale Wednesday, which could be the final game at 5,000-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe.
Coyotes players were not made available following Friday night’s 3-2 overtime win over the Oilers and coach Andre Tourigny said he would take questions only about the game.
“This team has been through a lot of adversity,” Tourigny said. “The first time the rumor came around, we didn’t manage it well and we shot ourselves in the foot, went on a 14-game losing streak. Our guys are showing how proud they are, how much they care for each other and how much they want to have success with each other. It’s cool to feel that, cool to see them cheering each other and pushing in the same direction like that.”
The news comes amid buzz that Ryan Smith, owner of the NBA’s Jazz, has been working to acquire an NHL team, a move that could include the league buying the Coyotes from Alex Meruelo and flipping it. Smith earlier this week solicited name ideas for a possible team in Salt Lake City, and the league has been working on two different drafts of the 2024-25 schedule based on whether the franchise is playing in Arizona or Utah.
The Smith Entertainment Group in January said was interested in bringing a hockey team to Salt Lake City and had the immediate ability to facilitate that. The team would play in the Delta Center, home of the NBA’s Jazz, until a new arena could be built. That announcement included the request to initiate an expansion process.
But it also was conspicuously timed near the midway point of the season and without a long-term home for the Coyotes in Arizona. Last year, an arena referendum in Tempe failed, and in recent weeks the team said it was committed to winning a land auction for a potential arena site in Phoenix.
Even if that auction succeeds, it could lead the NHL back to the desert later this decade. NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh had repeatedly expressed concerns about the current situation, playing in a small arena on Arizona State’s campus, which was one possible home for the team until a new building was constructed.
Now the team is likely headed to its third location since joining the league from the World Hockey Association in 1979.