Can new Coyotes GM rescue franchise?
On the surface, and also down deep, it’s difficult to imagine a reason someone would desire to be the Coyotes general manager, other than there are only 31 such gigs in the NHL.
The Coyotes are nudging the salary cap.
There are rumors ownership wants to cut salary.
They made massive layoffs in business operations a month ago.
They have one selection in the top three rounds of the next two drafts.
And lately they have been late paying some bills, including per diem and bonuses to players, according to multiple
their reports.
Welcome to Arizona, Bill Armstrong. At least the temperatures have fallen below 110 degrees.
To his credit, Armstrong, introduced to media on Tuesday, acknowledged the challenges of the job and admitted that he received texts from “the hockey community” who had the same warning about taking the Coyotes job:
“You know, you might want to think
that one over. Nobody has been able to win in 25 years in the desert.”
Armstrong said his first meeting with owner Alex Meruelo was “a game changer for me in believing you can win in this desert. He convinced me the day that I met him that he was committed to winning in the desert.”
Many former and current employees would disagree. The last general manager, John Chayka, either terminated his contract (Chayka’s version) or quit (the Coyotes’ version) before play began in the bubble in Edmonton.
No matter which version you prefer, the dysfunction in the hockey operations became public. Then there was the news the team was late paying players’ bonuses and the per diem they were due in the bubble.
And last week, Glendale officials confirmed the Coyotes are late paying ASM Global, the company that manages Gila River Arena.
‘I like challenges’
The Coyotes job has always been difficult, but never more than now, because it’s not just about the challenge of remaking a roster and building for the future with limited resources. It’s also about educating those at the top of the organization, most notably Meruelo, about how a successful NHL franchise opera.
The question is if Merueloand those closest to him want to listen.
Multiple sources in the organization said Meruelo, his son Alex Jr., an executive with the team, and President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez micromanage departments outside their expertise.
That expertise doesn’t include hockey and was one reason the relationship with Chayka became poisonous, sources said.
Tuesday, Armstrong was asked the question of nearly every new general manager or coach in professional sports, but with a twist:
Why the Coyotes, given all their apparent issues?
“I like challenges,” said Armstrong, who worked his way up with the St. Louis Blues from amateur scout to assistant general manager. “I was extremely excited about getting into an organization and putting your thumbprint in there.
“I think that’s one of the reasons they brought me in, is to make sure things get run properly, things get done properly. I have a good reputation of treating people fairly. I think that’s part of the process of why they liked me, to get someone in here to clean stuff up and make sure this is not only a championship franchise on the ice, but also off.”
Meruelo has done some things right
— such as giving Chayka the freedom and financial assurances needed to trade for Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall.
The trades didn’t necessarily work, but at least Meruelo signed off on the attempts.
But late payments to players, vendors and ASM Global, declining to renew the contracts of some of coach Rick Tocchet’s assistants, and the layoffs bring into question Meruelo’s financial wherewithal and/or his commitment to winning.
A lot of things about owning a sports franchise are hard.
Paying what you owe, on time, among them.
Gutierrez sat to Armstrong’s right during the video call Tuesday and jumped in after Armstrong explained why he took the job.
The community, fans and the team’s partners should have “extreme confidence in this ownership, in its strength and in its stability,” Gutierrez said. “Alex Meruelo spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire this franchise, a franchise that him and his family are going to own for generations.”
Businesses through the country have been impacted by the pandemic, Gutierrez said, adding a walk through the Westgate Entertainment District just outside the arena would confirm that.
Some of the Coyotes’ business decisions, like their apparent dissatisfaction with their lease, have nothing to do with the pandemic.
“I will also share this,” Gutierrez said. “We will and we must course-correct some of the business arrangements that have historically undermined the financial prosperity of this franchise.”
That’s likely why the Glendale City Council was scheduled to discuss its agreements with the arena manager, and thus the team, during executive session on Tuesday.
Round and round
isn’t
Questions about ownership. Building a roster on a budget. Lease disagreements. The Coyotes have skated in this same circle for nearly a quarter century in Arizona.
In a conference call last Saturday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the “Arizona franchise is under the strongest ownership it has been under as long as I can remember.”
But it’s the next sentence that stood out to me.
“I think, at best, you’re looking at a newer ownership understanding what it takes to get your feet wet and operate a franchise.”
At best?
Left unsaid was the “at worst” scenario. That a newer ownership is in over its head and relying, at least in part, on a first-time general manager to rescue it.