Arizona Coyotes players have been informed that the NHL club plans to move to Salt Lake City, according to a person familiar with the talks.
General manager Bill Armstrong flew to Edmonton, Alberta, to inform players about the team’s possible move to Utah before the game against the Oilers, the person said Friday, before the decision was announced. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not available.
Players and officials could travel to Salt Lake City next week, as early as Wednesday, after the season finale, which could be the final game at Tempe’s 5,000-seat Mallett Arena.
After Friday night’s 3-2 overtime win over Edmonton, Coyotes players were not available and coach Andre Tourigny said he would only take questions about the game.
“This team has overcome a lot of adversity,” Tourigny said. “When that rumor first came out, we didn’t handle it very well and we shot ourselves in the foot and lost 14 straight. Our guys can’t say enough about how proud they are and how much they care about each other. , and showing how much they want each other to succeed. It’s cool to feel that, and it’s cool to see them rooting for each other like this and pushing in the same direction.”
The news comes amid talk that Ryan Smith, owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, is working on buying an NHL team, a move that would include the league acquiring and flipping the Coyotes from Alex Meruelo. may also be included.
Smith earlier this week We are looking for name ideas The league is pursuing two different draft schedules for the 2024-25 season based on whether the franchise plays in Arizona or Utah, seeking a team prospect in Salt Lake City.
Smith Entertainment Group said in January: I’m interested in bringing We had the immediate ability to send a hockey team to Salt Lake City and promote it.
The team will play at the Delta Center until a new arena is built. That announcement included a request to begin the expansion process.
But it also came at a time when there was no long-term home for the Arizona Coyotes, near the midway point of the season.
last year, arena referendum The experiment in Tempe failed, and the team announced it had failed in recent weeks. Aiming for victory at land auctions About the proposed arena site in Phoenix.
Even if the auction is successful, the NHL could find itself back in the desert later this decade.
NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh has repeatedly expressed concerns about the current situation of playing in a small arena on Arizona State University’s campus, which could serve as the team’s home until a new building is constructed.
The team now looks set to head to its third home since joining the league from the World Hockey Association in 1979.
Originally the Winnipeg Jets, the club was sold in 1996 to a Phoenix-area ownership group led by Suns’ Jerry Colangelo, moved to Arizona, and was renamed the Coyotes.
The group sold them in 2001 to developer Steve Ellman, with Wayne Gretzky part of the ownership group and head of hockey operations. The Coyotes relocated him from Phoenix to nearby Glendale in 2003.
After running into major financial troubles, Ellman sold the business to trucking industry magnate Jerry Moyes in 2005.
Problems continued for several years, and in 2008 the NHL took over management of the organization from paying the team’s bills.
Coach Moyes put the team into bankruptcy and lost his remaining ownership stake after rumors surfaced that he intended to sell the team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie of BlackBerry fame, who planned to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario. Deprived.
A group of Canadian businessmen took over in 2013 after a bankruptcy case and multiple failed bids to buy the team over several years.
By 2014, the group agreed to sell a controlling interest to Philadelphia hedge fund manager Andrew Burroway, who bought out the remaining stake in the team in 2017.
Meruelo purchased a controlling interest from Burroway in 2019 and has owned the team since before its sale to Smith Entertainment Group.
Officials in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the city’s 2034 Olympic bid, supported Smith’s effort to bring hockey to the state.
“Utah has a long history with hockey, the strongest economy in the nation, the most passionate sports fan base, and one of the youngest and most active populations,” Gov. Spencer Cox said in January. “These factors make Utah ripe for a growing sports and entertainment community.”
Smith said he and his group are “100% focused on getting this done as quickly as possible.” That appears to be in the works for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Salt Lake City would acquire the Coyotes over other options such as Houston, but there has been speculation about a possible move since the league announced in 2018 that it would move to the Central Division in 2021 with the addition of the expansion Seattle Kraken. was.
The success of the Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup in their sixth season last year, has led to optimism about another hockey market in the western United States.
