Why the Arizona Coyotes Are on the Move to Utah

It is not a matter of IF but WHEN the Arizona Coyotes move to Salt Lake City, Utah.

General Manager Bill Armstrong informed the players that relocation was happening. Details of the team’s sale to Ryan Smith, the Utah ownership group, and the team name have yet to be announced. According to reports, those details are being worked out and finalized. However, the sale of the Arizona Coyotes will be worth around $1.2 Billion. That includes a relocation fee split amongst the other 31 owners.

The formal announcement should come sometime next week. That means the final game for the Arizona Coyotes in Mullet Arena is Wednesday Night, April 17th. Those tickets are going for a pretty penny.

The NHL did everything it could to keep the Coyotes in Arizona after they relocated from Winnipeg in 1996. However, it was not all doom and gloom for the Coyotes. They were pretty successful early on. At the time, the then-Phoenix Coyotes made the playoffs in five of their six seasons in the desert. However, they never made it out of the first round.

But that team was made up of Winnipeg Jets 1.0 drafted players. After that, the Coyotes missed four straight seasons before returning to the playoffs in 2009-10. The Coyotes had three straight playoff appearances and went to the Western Conference Final in 2012, losing to the Los Angeles Kings. That was the best effort.

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Since then, the Coyotes have made the playoffs once during the 2020 COVID Bubble. They could never capitalize on their playoff success because of the turmoil off the ice with multiple owners over the years, including the NHL.

A big reason why is that the Coyotes could never shake the negative PR in the media about ownership and their building situation. That does not help bring players to your team. Not to mention how they operated, acquiring dead money contracts to get to the cap floor.

Not to mention the team’s missing rent payments to the City of Glendale and the cities’ refusal to build them a new arena. It was a disaster that needed to end years ago.  Being a successful franchise in a market like Arizona is hard when nobody wants you. Though the team has talent, it does not operate like an NHL franchise.

Additionally, the new executive director, Marty Walsh, pressured the NHL to resolve this situation with the Coyotes. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman did not have pushback like he has now. The Players did not want to play in a college facility with inadequate locker rooms. It made the franchise and League look bad.

We know the NHL wants to be in Arizona; they proved it. As mentioned on NHLRumors.com, the best thing for the Arizona franchise to do, because there will be a next time, is to follow the Minnesota model. Set the infrastructure up first, along with ensuring proper ownership and management.

It stings to lose a franchise, but there was no other choice when there was no land and no building in sight.