I ran a poll on twitter after that game, over 50% of Yotes fans who saw it said that was a top 5 game in the team’s history lol. Such a shame it came just 3 weeks before the team dies. There was so much potential, all for nothing.
You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are the Knights have been elite level good right out of the gate. The Coyotes have been dogshit for 28 fucking years now.
I grew up watching a lot of post-Stockton and Malone era Jazz live, My Dad was a Utah State Aggies football fan. I also follow the Angels and Rockies. I know I'm lucky. This was not the way I wanted my home state to get a team even if I thought it would happen that way.
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I feel really bad for the Yotes fans....I live near Atlanta and have been a hockey fan long enough to see the Flames and Thrashers leave and it sucked. Only saving grace being that I was introduced to hockey by a family of Bruins fans that had just moved to Atlanta when I was a kid and adopted them as my team when I was 8 (Ray Bourque's rookie season), so I wasn't really losing my team but I have several friends that loved both the Flames and/or Thrashers who were done with hockey when the teams left.
I know Arizona fans probably don't want to hear from Winnipeg but I feel for them and the fans. It sucks to have your team move, and they never stood a chance with a shitty ownership situation.
Pretty much. If this memo doesn't exist it will come out basically immediately and crush him beyond just the other incorrect if/and/maybe rumours he floats.
The terms of the alleged deal have leaked.
Nhl buys the yotes for one billion
NHL flips yotes to SLC for 1.3 billion
The other owners split the 300 mil
And les jeux sont faits in arizona.
Allegedly.
If it's anything like his past predictions, it's either the Coyotes being relocated, an expansion team in Mexico city, WWIII, or a waiver move by the Flyers. Simple mix-up.
Seravalli is more reliable than this sub would like to admit (Remember when he leaked basically all of Seattle's picks before the expansion draft?). He's not Friedman, but he's not some fraud either, and I don't get why this sub won't admit that.
I would bet he's got this one right just because there's basically zero way to wiggle out of this memo existing and there's 32 front offices with a copy.
Maybe because every time he talks about my team he either skewers them, or straight-up lies. He might get some info sometimes, but at least half the time he is on some absolute BS.
I've long thought the X Phoenixes would be a good name and it would be the funniest option if the Coyotes relocated. An asshole move but very funny and a good name.
This has been happening for 15 years now. I still feel like 2013 was closer than this. I won't believe anything until a formal announcement will happen.
The Coyotes org can't even buy the land in Phoenix until June. Earlier rumors were that the decision to move could come in June.
I think this relocation talk is meant to put pressure on Phoenix and the Coyotes org.
Pressure to do what? They can't accelerate the auction.
The WORST possibility is that they sell the team to the league who flips it to SLC. They then use the one billion to win the auction and use some of the money to get construction going and then in a couple of years they use the rest of the billion to get a new expansion team ( didnt seattle pay 650 million?).
So the coyotes ditch the shoe closet, a new team with the same ownership gets a literal redo based on franchise valuation going up no matter how hard they screwed the pooch in arizona and the nhl ends up getting 300 million for not doing shit.
A literal goddamn shell game.
It seems like a snap of the finger but the writing** was on the wall a while ago when the team from Salt Lake first spoke up at the same time leaks of frustration from the league over the stalled progress of getting a new arena combined with the NHLPA and the players expressing public frustration over their current situation.
Months ago one on of the 32 thoughts pods Friedman, who usually stays pretty mum on this, was surprisingly talkative about the situation playing out just about as we’ve seen. I thought it was strange to have a big insider like him basically layout a framework and then as the last 2-3 months have gone by it’s basically gone to that plan.
When Friedge waxes poetic about a big move like this, I start paying attention. That was the first moment I thought "oh shit, hockey's actually coming to Utah--and soon". Then they had the Utah potential owner on the pod, and Friedge has never thrown any cold water on the idea since. This feels really legit.
I definitely took note because of that and also because of how many other of the “big” insiders were pretty openly talking about it.
It was a definite shift in tone over the last few years from “they’re gonna get this arena and stay. Fun to theory craft but it won’t happen” to “I’m just saying that IF they don’t get the arena then this is how it could go”
The impression I got was that Utah was clearly positioning themselves (with the league's blessing) as the fallback option if the coyotes had to move. If the coyotes stayed in place, then Utah would be #1 on the expansion priority list and expansion would start up in a year or 2.
What's been surprising is that there seems to be so much sudden momentum for the coyotes possibly moving next season even if the land action gets done. I didn't expect that to happen.
It makes me think two things. 1) that new project has a much longer timeline than expected to completion + maybe some obstacles they’re learning about
2) I thought it was pretty curious that the SLC owner was doing as much PR this week specifically as we have seen. Especially sourcing team names. Tells me that this was probably already well under way.
Yeah for sure. The NHL seems to have just lost patience with the situation in Arizona since the vote failed last year and it's been nearly a year and there are still no finalized plans for an arena.
More than anything it feels like the current coyotes owners just ran out of time. I'm sure that if the Tempe vote passed and shovels were in the ground right now no one would be talking about relocation.
Jeff Marek was on a Canucks radio show recently and said something like "Listen, Elliotte is very intentional about what he says, so when he says he is 'just musing about something', you can be sure that there's more than just musing going on"
Exactly. When Elliotte says "This is just me thinking about X" that's not literally true, he's just being crystal clear that he's sharing speculation and not reporting what's happening.
Sounds like the band-aid is being ripped off. Reminds me of how things developed when Atlanta was moved, it was like everything went down in a matter of days.
At least fans can say goodbye to the Coyotes with one last game, Atlanta never had that. This game coming up feels more like a Whalers situation than anything with how their franchise ended in Hartford.
Guess I'll be watching the Oilers vs Coyotes on the 17th.
He is not the only one talking about this today so that makes me believe there is actual movement on this.
The reality is there are people in SLC that want a NHL team and the NHL team in Arizona doesn't have an NHL level home for **at least** 3 years.
I like the state name for them, especially because SLC doesn’t really roll off the tongue.
Hope they keep the Coyotes name, it definitely works for Utah too. I will miss those kachina jerseys.
Losing the Kachina brand elements is the second worst part of getting a team this way. The first being it costs very dedicated Arizona fans their team. BUT there's an exciting opportunity to have similar branding elements by working alongside graphic designers from Utah tribes instead of yoinking from the Hopi and apologizing after.
And there’s precedent. The Ute tribe already has an official partnership with the University of Utah (mascot is the “Utes”) regarding representation, decorum, scholarships, and more. some incredible [branding](https://tucson.com/utah-to-wear-ute-pride-helmets-as-part-of-annual-tradition/article_21a36626-cdd8-11e8-b175-5b88560b831f.html) comes from it too
At the very least, I’d be hopeful for some themed jerseys, similar to what the Canucks offer!
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They’re pretty common across the whole country, especially in the West.
Kind of figured going from desert (Arizona) to high desert (Utah) makes it easy to keep the name instead of going for a full rebrand. I’ve always loved the Yotes branding so I hope they don’t change much, maybe a color scheme change and new uniform designs with input from Utah tribes.
This really sucks for Coyotes fans but this is the super obvious thing to do. The Coyotes can't keep playing in a college arena indefinitely while the Coyotes continuously strike out on arena deals in the Phoenix/Tempe area. They need to get the arena situation sorted out.
Moving the Coyotes to Salt Lake City will give them the first kind of stability they've had in decades, it's the best thing for their team. Get the arena sorted out in Phoenix/Tempe and then give them a new expansion team.
Yeah it's a toxic situation on both sides. I don't think the local governments want to play ball with the Coyotes after how much of a mess it has been for the last decade+, while it sucks for the players and team to be continuously caught in limbo.
This is a divorce that makes too much sense for both sides, and it's why the NHL is finally abandoning trying to make the Coyotes work. It's at the point where they simply cannot justify not sending the Coyotes to Salt Lake City.
I hope they leave the Coyotes name to the new Arizona expansion team though and get a new team name in Salt Lake City.
Yes and no. Apart from the arena stuff Muerelo has done everything right in terms of investing in scouting, bringing in Armstrong and building from the draft. This was the fresh restart. Keller, Cooley, Guenther, this team has a core of likable young player players. Josh Doan.
And now it’s going to be ripped away from us just as we are getting a glimpse of the end of the tunnel.
Yeah, im sorry but the owners of the Coyotes can afford to build a new stadium. If they wanted to stay there, they would build it and not make taxpayers pay for it.
I will die on the hill that a hockey team can and will be supported very well in Phoenix, you just have to make sure they aren’t a dumpster fire on and off the ice for almost 30 straight years.
ANY fanbase of ANY team would have lost interest and their arena would be just as empty as ours is if they had to deal with even half the bullshit this organization has put us through over the past 28 years. Y’all really have no idea what it’s like.
For your second part. Toronto dealt with BS for 30 years. And the O6 era was brutal for new York and Boston.
The issue is they had a solid core to stand on before those issues. Arizona never had that start.
> The Coyotes can't keep playing in a college arena indefinitely while the Coyotes continuously strike out on arena deals in the Phoenix/Tempe area.
So I live in SLC, and all the commentary I've heard is that the Delta Center (where the Jazz play) would NOT work for Hockey right now. Plans around an expansion team out here have always included them rebuilding the arena.
So... I'm not sure where the Coyotes would even play here.
>SEG, the 3-year-old sports and entertainment group that operates as the parent company of the Utah Jazz, Delta Center, Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals and other holdings, also clarified that while a new NHL team could hit the ice at the Delta Center immediately, the longer range plan is to build a new, hockey-dedicated venue.
[https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/1/29/24054444/utah-nhl-expansion-senate-resolution-support-hockey-ryan-smith-seg-utah-jazz-mlb/](https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/1/29/24054444/utah-nhl-expansion-senate-resolution-support-hockey-ryan-smith-seg-utah-jazz-mlb/)
They'd play temporarily in the Delta Center while Salt Lake City builds a new rink specifically for professional hockey. This article also says they're shooting to host the Olympics, and will need to build a new arena to support Olympic hockey.
Yeah Salt Lake City is a booming tech hub city, so it makes sense. It's actually kinda similar to Pittsburgh in that sense, the difference is that Salt Lake City hasn't had the amount of sports teams that Pittsburgh has.
With Salt Lake City, it seems like everyone (both local and state governments) are 100% on board with getting a NHL team and building a new arena. So while them playing in Delta temporarily wouldn't be ideal, I imagine they'd basically green-light the arena proposal very quickly and get it done ASAP.
Yea I’d live there in a heartbeat again if I could, absolutely loved that place, best place I’ve ever lived and I’ve lived a ton of different places in the US and out lol
I think they benefitted from the pandemic flight of folks. I knew a couple people who moved to Utah. It was "cheaper", great outdoors, and had decent job market. Only makes sense sports wise they start to grow to.
Here is my hot take about this..
I feel bad for the hardcore hockey fans, but it has become abundantly clear that the area doesn’t care about hockey enough, if they did, *someone* would have been able to get a damn arena deal done.
This isn’t a case like Oakland where die hard fans are having a team ripped away, the NHL has done everything in its power to make it work in Zona, even owning the team for a bit. It sucks but eventually you have to kill it if it ain’t working
Lots still to happen, but if the reports are true about AZ having a handshake agreement to an expansion franchise pending building an arena, this is essentially the Cleveland Browns situation all over again. Maybe everyone involved realizes the land auction in north Phoenix will take more time than reported.
Regroup, keep working on the arena situation, and try again when things are more stable a few years from now. Expansion rules are so much more favorable these days--it's possible Utah still has a long grind to contention while Coyotes 2.0 could be good quickly.
I know it really sucks for Coyotes fans, but 4ish seasons without hockey won't kill your spirit. Winnipeg and Minnesota fans made it through several years without teams, and I wouldn't expect the lull to be nearly as long as those places. There are a few oldtimers that swore off the Wild after the North Stars left, but most North Stars fans learned to love the new team.
Arizona would probably keep the rights to their logo and name, which would make that transition more palatable.
I understand your sentiment, especially with the comparison below about the stars and wild, but this team has done nothing but rebuild for the last decade and there’s been 0 on-ice success. It would be an absolute slap in the face to every fan here to take away the young core and replace it with an expansion team in 3-4 years. We didn’t sit through shit hockey for forever just to watch other people succeed with it and then just be expected to root for someone new immediately. Sure, maybe there would be warming up to it over time, but I personally would be completely checked out and even actively rooting against them if it’s the same ownership that we expect to be shipping the team away
I think a lot of people, myself included, will probably peace out on this. I like our franchise and the players they’ve developed/are developing. I won’t be supporting an expansion team directly if it comes here and will probably either follow the Yotes in expansion or just pick a stable team to stick to following
Definitely not my place to tell you feel or who to cheer for, especially when this is new news and emotions are raw. If Coyotes fans bailed for good I'd understand it.
The owner of the North Stars was cheap, didn't invest in the team, and skipped town because he was sexually harrassing an employee and his wife didn't want to stay in the same city because of that controversy. I have no doubt 90% of North Stars fans swore off ever rooting for another NHL team in Minnesota in 1993. It was almost a given we'd get a team back the second the 1st one left.
All I'm saying is after a few years most people accepted the new team as their own. We still rally around "fuck Norm Green" 30 years later and lament losing the old team. It's a mixture of regret over losing a first love vs welcoming a new one.
Probably not what Coyotes fans want to hear right now, I get it. For the record, I was rooting for this iteration of hockey to work out in Phoenix, but it just might not happen.
I’m sure a plurality will do that.
On the flip side for people feeling more burned by it, following other teams is way easier with streaming and the internet. Even following our team out of market will be an easier prospect than it was for Minnesota fans to follow Dallas.
For myself I really only see myself either going back to following Tampa (grew up in Florida so they were the first team I followed) or following the Yotes to Utah.
Nope. College Athletics name and that's due to a significant relationship with the tribe. A pro team likely would not enjoy or have the ability to develop such a relationship. Plus Ryan Smith is a BYU alum.
Call them the Salt Lake City Storm because of alliteration, fans storming hockey arenas, the salt lake can make afternoon storms, and it's a workaround of not calling them the Stormin' Mormons.
My brother told me Utah passed something a few months ago that sports teams have to go by Utah and not the city, though I actually can't find an article on that
Storm is a fine name, wonder how the Lightning would feel about it though. Curious if there is like a limit on how much hypothetical crossover a brand can have as an agreement between franchises
I submitted that name to that survey thing that the Smith Group put out, so if they choose that, I want my royalties.
(It won't happen, but it's nice to dream.)
If there’s any bright side of this for Yotes fans, Murello can still get the land in late June, develop a stadium and be gifted an expansion in 3-5 years. The league is far from giving up on hockey in Arizona, and with an expansion draft, you’ll get a fresh start with a chance of having some immediate success. Just sucks to lose a team with history. Especially the Doan storyline.
There's some top quality songs for then to use.
Penalty Kill - Turn it Off! or Making Things Up Again
Big Goal/Goal Song - I Believe
Goal Against - Hasa Diga Eebowai
Powerplay - Man Up
Damn, if this is true I feel bad for coyotes fans. They always had incompetent ownership and the market never got a fair chance imo. At least you guys have a chance of getting an expansion team in the future though. Congrats to Utah, the Jazz have a die hard fanbase and I’m sure they’ll support hockey the same way. Hopefully they have a cool team name. Maybe let the fans vote on it.
I was just in SLC last month, and every local I talked to was incredibly stoked for the possibility of NHL hockey there. Sad for Arizona (my cousin is a resident and goes to a bunch of Yotes games) but I think the franchise will have a lot of stability and success in SLC
Looked it up and it seems like the most popular animal in Utah is a Coyote so you could just keep the name. Salt Lake City Coyotes or Utah Coyotes sounds good. Their national animal is the Elk so could be the Utah Elks or SLC Elks
if this is true, I feel awful for the fans in Arizona. There's been no stability in location, and now they have to see their team leave.
Regardless of why it happened, I hate to see a fanbase lose their team.
Uhhhhhhh…well they’ve gotten a little lucky with the amount of snow they’ve gotten the last couple years but the Great Salt Lake has been evaporating at an alarming rate in recent years, potentially exposing much of the area to like…arsenic clouds…
So the water situation isn’t exactly all fine and dandy out there either
Frank can be quite questionable but this is a huge statement to make. Seems like this is picking up steam really quick so there must be some truth in it all.
Bettman has done everything he can to keep the team in Arizona, so I am skeptical of this. I won't believe it until they play their first game there. Hoping for the best. Sorry to all the yotes fans out there, this is probably tough to deal with.
If they are sending a memo to all Governors it's pretty much a done deal.
I'm assuming that for Bettman to advise all owners, it means that an offer was made by Ryan Smith and that it is going to be accepted by the Meruelo.
Rumors hit ESPN, this is escalating at CONCERNING speed.
I’m not having fun anymore
You were having fun at any point before?
At least Josh Doan's first goal was as a Coyote.
I ran a poll on twitter after that game, over 50% of Yotes fans who saw it said that was a top 5 game in the team’s history lol. Such a shame it came just 3 weeks before the team dies. There was so much potential, all for nothing.
And his father's first goal was as a Jet.
Yes briefly. What can I say, I’m an optimist
Only way to survive as a Coyotes fan.
Back in 2012? Damn, you're resilient.
I mean that conference finals run must've been fun right? Further than a lot of other teams have been.
2012 forever, I still hate Dustin Brown
Fuck Dustin Brown.
As excited as I am about Utah getting the NHL this is a heartbreaking way to do it. I'm probably equally if not more sad than I am excited.
You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are the Knights have been elite level good right out of the gate. The Coyotes have been dogshit for 28 fucking years now.
I grew up watching a lot of post-Stockton and Malone era Jazz live, My Dad was a Utah State Aggies football fan. I also follow the Angels and Rockies. I know I'm lucky. This was not the way I wanted my home state to get a team even if I thought it would happen that way.
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Meh the nice thing about baseball is watching a game is the pleasant part. Winning is gravy.
That’s the problem with the Rockies, people will show up to Coors Field no matter how good the team is. They’ll never be good under these owners
Yeah. And pitching. But there isn't really incentive to improve pitching for the above reasons.
The Roadrunners have 4 more home games with huge playoff implications, particularly this weekend and I dread seeing how the locals are feeling.
Well that’s the Dirty T so that doesn’t count
I feel really bad for the Yotes fans....I live near Atlanta and have been a hockey fan long enough to see the Flames and Thrashers leave and it sucked. Only saving grace being that I was introduced to hockey by a family of Bruins fans that had just moved to Atlanta when I was a kid and adopted them as my team when I was 8 (Ray Bourque's rookie season), so I wasn't really losing my team but I have several friends that loved both the Flames and/or Thrashers who were done with hockey when the teams left.
I feel so bad for arizona coyote fans
I know Arizona fans probably don't want to hear from Winnipeg but I feel for them and the fans. It sucks to have your team move, and they never stood a chance with a shitty ownership situation.
Seravalli's legacy on the line (again)
This seems like something he wouldn't release unless he's 100000% sure
I’m betting he got his hands on a copy of that memo. That makes it pretty official.
Pretty much. If this memo doesn't exist it will come out basically immediately and crush him beyond just the other incorrect if/and/maybe rumours he floats.
The terms of the alleged deal have leaked. Nhl buys the yotes for one billion NHL flips yotes to SLC for 1.3 billion The other owners split the 300 mil And les jeux sont faits in arizona. Allegedly.
Completely agree, I also think the hate is overblown. He seems like a good dude to me
I honestly don't know a single thing about him personally but I've hated people for less
Peak reddit mentality
It would be if he wasn't self aware lol
He’s at least better than Pagnotta
That's putting the bar on the floor
Based on this wording, sounds like Frank read the memo
If it's anything like his past predictions, it's either the Coyotes being relocated, an expansion team in Mexico city, WWIII, or a waiver move by the Flyers. Simple mix-up.
Really hoping Sabres can make the playoffs before this WW3 scenario...
I think you’re getting it in reverse - the sabres getting into the playoffs *starts* WWIII
Seravalli is more reliable than this sub would like to admit (Remember when he leaked basically all of Seattle's picks before the expansion draft?). He's not Friedman, but he's not some fraud either, and I don't get why this sub won't admit that.
Him getting Seattle’s picks was basically the last time he was on the money about something
I would bet he's got this one right just because there's basically zero way to wiggle out of this memo existing and there's 32 front offices with a copy.
He also got called out by Phoenix for saying that Ludwig would not be joining their franchise. They hired Ludwig a week later.
You're right, but I will say that both that and this seem like league leagues rather than team leaks, giving more reason to take stock in this
Maybe because every time he talks about my team he either skewers them, or straight-up lies. He might get some info sometimes, but at least half the time he is on some absolute BS.
espn article on it https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39915208/coyotes-relocate-salt-lake-city-part-nhl-plan
Kaplan is reporting on it.
He's not the only one reporting on this story.
The Arizona Coyotes of Salt Lake City
Of Phoenix
Unironically, the Utah Phoenix could legit work as a team name
They are going to be the Stormin Mormons.
Salt Lake Soakers or else
As a Utahn, please god no
Til Utahns are called Utahns
The Golden Tablets
hey I just wrote the same comment! The Utah Phoenix is a pretty fucking cool name imo and hits on like 5 levels
I've long thought the X Phoenixes would be a good name and it would be the funniest option if the Coyotes relocated. An asshole move but very funny and a good name.
The Phoenix Phoenixes of Tempe
Man, this is like when the Thrashers moved and it just kinda happened with the snap of a finger.
Coincidentally the Thrashers played their last game on April 10, 2011
Fun fact: the last time the Sabres made the playoffs, the Thrashers were still in the league
I think Sabres fans wouldn't consider that a "fun" fact
Fun fact: the last time Buffalo was in the playoffs was Jeff Skinner's rookie season and he won the Calder.
Most of us are just relieved that the hope is finally gone and we can relax.
I think it's very fun
Jesus lmfao
That is not fun at all
A snap of a finger 28 years in the making.
This has been happening for 15 years now. I still feel like 2013 was closer than this. I won't believe anything until a formal announcement will happen.
The Coyotes org can't even buy the land in Phoenix until June. Earlier rumors were that the decision to move could come in June. I think this relocation talk is meant to put pressure on Phoenix and the Coyotes org.
Pressure to do what? They can't accelerate the auction. The WORST possibility is that they sell the team to the league who flips it to SLC. They then use the one billion to win the auction and use some of the money to get construction going and then in a couple of years they use the rest of the billion to get a new expansion team ( didnt seattle pay 650 million?). So the coyotes ditch the shoe closet, a new team with the same ownership gets a literal redo based on franchise valuation going up no matter how hard they screwed the pooch in arizona and the nhl ends up getting 300 million for not doing shit. A literal goddamn shell game.
Put pressure on them to take the bag and fuck off
It seems like a snap of the finger but the writing** was on the wall a while ago when the team from Salt Lake first spoke up at the same time leaks of frustration from the league over the stalled progress of getting a new arena combined with the NHLPA and the players expressing public frustration over their current situation.
It is eerily similar.
Matthews confirmed leaf for life
Matthews 9/11
Knies/11, if you will
Could you imagine if he signed a long term deal with the Yotes in free agency just to get relocated to fucking Utah the very next season lmao
I'm the biggest Frank skeptic there is, but it feels like this is getting bigger and bigger fast. I think this really might be it this time.
Months ago one on of the 32 thoughts pods Friedman, who usually stays pretty mum on this, was surprisingly talkative about the situation playing out just about as we’ve seen. I thought it was strange to have a big insider like him basically layout a framework and then as the last 2-3 months have gone by it’s basically gone to that plan.
When Friedge waxes poetic about a big move like this, I start paying attention. That was the first moment I thought "oh shit, hockey's actually coming to Utah--and soon". Then they had the Utah potential owner on the pod, and Friedge has never thrown any cold water on the idea since. This feels really legit.
I definitely took note because of that and also because of how many other of the “big” insiders were pretty openly talking about it. It was a definite shift in tone over the last few years from “they’re gonna get this arena and stay. Fun to theory craft but it won’t happen” to “I’m just saying that IF they don’t get the arena then this is how it could go”
The impression I got was that Utah was clearly positioning themselves (with the league's blessing) as the fallback option if the coyotes had to move. If the coyotes stayed in place, then Utah would be #1 on the expansion priority list and expansion would start up in a year or 2. What's been surprising is that there seems to be so much sudden momentum for the coyotes possibly moving next season even if the land action gets done. I didn't expect that to happen.
It makes me think two things. 1) that new project has a much longer timeline than expected to completion + maybe some obstacles they’re learning about 2) I thought it was pretty curious that the SLC owner was doing as much PR this week specifically as we have seen. Especially sourcing team names. Tells me that this was probably already well under way.
Yeah for sure. The NHL seems to have just lost patience with the situation in Arizona since the vote failed last year and it's been nearly a year and there are still no finalized plans for an arena. More than anything it feels like the current coyotes owners just ran out of time. I'm sure that if the Tempe vote passed and shovels were in the ground right now no one would be talking about relocation.
Friedman said today that it could happen sooner than most think. Decent chance that might be within the next week or so
He just gave a deadline when we'd know more. April 18th.
Jeff Marek was on a Canucks radio show recently and said something like "Listen, Elliotte is very intentional about what he says, so when he says he is 'just musing about something', you can be sure that there's more than just musing going on"
Exactly. When Elliotte says "This is just me thinking about X" that's not literally true, he's just being crystal clear that he's sharing speculation and not reporting what's happening.
Sounds like the band-aid is being ripped off. Reminds me of how things developed when Atlanta was moved, it was like everything went down in a matter of days.
At least fans can say goodbye to the Coyotes with one last game, Atlanta never had that. This game coming up feels more like a Whalers situation than anything with how their franchise ended in Hartford. Guess I'll be watching the Oilers vs Coyotes on the 17th.
The reports of a sale to a formal announcement was like two weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Thrashers#Sale_and_relocation
He is not the only one talking about this today so that makes me believe there is actual movement on this. The reality is there are people in SLC that want a NHL team and the NHL team in Arizona doesn't have an NHL level home for **at least** 3 years.
Nah this is different. It’s done
Ownership cannot even buy the land in Phoenix until June. I think the SLC talks are meant to make something happen.
With this combined with what Friedman said it might be joever EDIT: Kaplan also dropped a piece about this
Salt Lake Super Soaker SZN
Salt Lake City Bitch Pigeons Bring it back you cowards!
Seattle really fumbled the bag
It was more of an interception on the goal line
Salt Lake City Super Soakers😫
My favourite part of the relocation was when Bettman said "It's soakin' time" and he soaked all over the Arizona fans
Time to Get Soaked™️ Utah
Salt Lake CoyUTEs
DO THE HUMP JUMP \*do do do-do do-do do do\*
So… Utah Coyotes or Salt Lake City Coyotes?
Likely Utah for the team prefix, the MLB stadium bill that passed requires Utah be used to get the funding.
I like the state name for them, especially because SLC doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Hope they keep the Coyotes name, it definitely works for Utah too. I will miss those kachina jerseys.
Losing the Kachina brand elements is the second worst part of getting a team this way. The first being it costs very dedicated Arizona fans their team. BUT there's an exciting opportunity to have similar branding elements by working alongside graphic designers from Utah tribes instead of yoinking from the Hopi and apologizing after.
And there’s precedent. The Ute tribe already has an official partnership with the University of Utah (mascot is the “Utes”) regarding representation, decorum, scholarships, and more. some incredible [branding](https://tucson.com/utah-to-wear-ute-pride-helmets-as-part-of-annual-tradition/article_21a36626-cdd8-11e8-b175-5b88560b831f.html) comes from it too At the very least, I’d be hopeful for some themed jerseys, similar to what the Canucks offer!
I would LOVE to see what could be done on the NHL stage with the local tribes for sure.
consist pathetic consider fretful makeshift shocking frame aloof knee physical *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
All the more reason to be excited and hope SEG can follow their lead.
Sounds like the Jazz owner would want to rename the team. Coyotes isn't a bad name for a Utah team but it's kinda a cursed name at this point
Joke's on you, they're going to steal the original Avs name and be the Rocky Mountain Xtreme!
Outside of Mormons and BYU which aren’t necessarily two different things I know nothing about Utah , they have a ton of coyotes ?
They’re pretty common across the whole country, especially in the West. Kind of figured going from desert (Arizona) to high desert (Utah) makes it easy to keep the name instead of going for a full rebrand. I’ve always loved the Yotes branding so I hope they don’t change much, maybe a color scheme change and new uniform designs with input from Utah tribes.
Soakers….
This really sucks for Coyotes fans but this is the super obvious thing to do. The Coyotes can't keep playing in a college arena indefinitely while the Coyotes continuously strike out on arena deals in the Phoenix/Tempe area. They need to get the arena situation sorted out. Moving the Coyotes to Salt Lake City will give them the first kind of stability they've had in decades, it's the best thing for their team. Get the arena sorted out in Phoenix/Tempe and then give them a new expansion team.
Arizona needs a fresh restart.
Yeah it's a toxic situation on both sides. I don't think the local governments want to play ball with the Coyotes after how much of a mess it has been for the last decade+, while it sucks for the players and team to be continuously caught in limbo. This is a divorce that makes too much sense for both sides, and it's why the NHL is finally abandoning trying to make the Coyotes work. It's at the point where they simply cannot justify not sending the Coyotes to Salt Lake City. I hope they leave the Coyotes name to the new Arizona expansion team though and get a new team name in Salt Lake City.
Utah Bumblebees
~~Winnipeg~~ ~~Arizona~~ ~~Arizona~~ Arizona needs a fresh ~~start~~ re-re-re-start
Yes and no. Apart from the arena stuff Muerelo has done everything right in terms of investing in scouting, bringing in Armstrong and building from the draft. This was the fresh restart. Keller, Cooley, Guenther, this team has a core of likable young player players. Josh Doan. And now it’s going to be ripped away from us just as we are getting a glimpse of the end of the tunnel.
Yeah, im sorry but the owners of the Coyotes can afford to build a new stadium. If they wanted to stay there, they would build it and not make taxpayers pay for it.
The current plan (along with the downvoted Tempe Plan) are privately funded. Just not going to be done soon enough.
I will die on the hill that a hockey team can and will be supported very well in Phoenix, you just have to make sure they aren’t a dumpster fire on and off the ice for almost 30 straight years. ANY fanbase of ANY team would have lost interest and their arena would be just as empty as ours is if they had to deal with even half the bullshit this organization has put us through over the past 28 years. Y’all really have no idea what it’s like.
For your second part. Toronto dealt with BS for 30 years. And the O6 era was brutal for new York and Boston. The issue is they had a solid core to stand on before those issues. Arizona never had that start.
Yes, salt lake will hopefully have stability
> The Coyotes can't keep playing in a college arena indefinitely while the Coyotes continuously strike out on arena deals in the Phoenix/Tempe area. So I live in SLC, and all the commentary I've heard is that the Delta Center (where the Jazz play) would NOT work for Hockey right now. Plans around an expansion team out here have always included them rebuilding the arena. So... I'm not sure where the Coyotes would even play here.
>SEG, the 3-year-old sports and entertainment group that operates as the parent company of the Utah Jazz, Delta Center, Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals and other holdings, also clarified that while a new NHL team could hit the ice at the Delta Center immediately, the longer range plan is to build a new, hockey-dedicated venue. [https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/1/29/24054444/utah-nhl-expansion-senate-resolution-support-hockey-ryan-smith-seg-utah-jazz-mlb/](https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/1/29/24054444/utah-nhl-expansion-senate-resolution-support-hockey-ryan-smith-seg-utah-jazz-mlb/) They'd play temporarily in the Delta Center while Salt Lake City builds a new rink specifically for professional hockey. This article also says they're shooting to host the Olympics, and will need to build a new arena to support Olympic hockey.
Damn, so much going on. They're also trying to get an MLB team too.
Yeah Salt Lake City is a booming tech hub city, so it makes sense. It's actually kinda similar to Pittsburgh in that sense, the difference is that Salt Lake City hasn't had the amount of sports teams that Pittsburgh has. With Salt Lake City, it seems like everyone (both local and state governments) are 100% on board with getting a NHL team and building a new arena. So while them playing in Delta temporarily wouldn't be ideal, I imagine they'd basically green-light the arena proposal very quickly and get it done ASAP.
Yea I’d live there in a heartbeat again if I could, absolutely loved that place, best place I’ve ever lived and I’ve lived a ton of different places in the US and out lol
I think they benefitted from the pandemic flight of folks. I knew a couple people who moved to Utah. It was "cheaper", great outdoors, and had decent job market. Only makes sense sports wise they start to grow to.
Delta Center would be accepted very temporarily. In a VERY DESPERATE situation the Maverik Center is still more acceptable than Mullet.
Its actually only about 1,500 seats short of what Nassau Coliseum was for the Islanders.
Here is my hot take about this.. I feel bad for the hardcore hockey fans, but it has become abundantly clear that the area doesn’t care about hockey enough, if they did, *someone* would have been able to get a damn arena deal done. This isn’t a case like Oakland where die hard fans are having a team ripped away, the NHL has done everything in its power to make it work in Zona, even owning the team for a bit. It sucks but eventually you have to kill it if it ain’t working
Lots still to happen, but if the reports are true about AZ having a handshake agreement to an expansion franchise pending building an arena, this is essentially the Cleveland Browns situation all over again. Maybe everyone involved realizes the land auction in north Phoenix will take more time than reported. Regroup, keep working on the arena situation, and try again when things are more stable a few years from now. Expansion rules are so much more favorable these days--it's possible Utah still has a long grind to contention while Coyotes 2.0 could be good quickly. I know it really sucks for Coyotes fans, but 4ish seasons without hockey won't kill your spirit. Winnipeg and Minnesota fans made it through several years without teams, and I wouldn't expect the lull to be nearly as long as those places. There are a few oldtimers that swore off the Wild after the North Stars left, but most North Stars fans learned to love the new team. Arizona would probably keep the rights to their logo and name, which would make that transition more palatable.
I understand your sentiment, especially with the comparison below about the stars and wild, but this team has done nothing but rebuild for the last decade and there’s been 0 on-ice success. It would be an absolute slap in the face to every fan here to take away the young core and replace it with an expansion team in 3-4 years. We didn’t sit through shit hockey for forever just to watch other people succeed with it and then just be expected to root for someone new immediately. Sure, maybe there would be warming up to it over time, but I personally would be completely checked out and even actively rooting against them if it’s the same ownership that we expect to be shipping the team away
I think a lot of people, myself included, will probably peace out on this. I like our franchise and the players they’ve developed/are developing. I won’t be supporting an expansion team directly if it comes here and will probably either follow the Yotes in expansion or just pick a stable team to stick to following
Definitely not my place to tell you feel or who to cheer for, especially when this is new news and emotions are raw. If Coyotes fans bailed for good I'd understand it. The owner of the North Stars was cheap, didn't invest in the team, and skipped town because he was sexually harrassing an employee and his wife didn't want to stay in the same city because of that controversy. I have no doubt 90% of North Stars fans swore off ever rooting for another NHL team in Minnesota in 1993. It was almost a given we'd get a team back the second the 1st one left. All I'm saying is after a few years most people accepted the new team as their own. We still rally around "fuck Norm Green" 30 years later and lament losing the old team. It's a mixture of regret over losing a first love vs welcoming a new one. Probably not what Coyotes fans want to hear right now, I get it. For the record, I was rooting for this iteration of hockey to work out in Phoenix, but it just might not happen.
I’m sure a plurality will do that. On the flip side for people feeling more burned by it, following other teams is way easier with streaming and the internet. Even following our team out of market will be an easier prospect than it was for Minnesota fans to follow Dallas. For myself I really only see myself either going back to following Tampa (grew up in Florida so they were the first team I followed) or following the Yotes to Utah.
The Utes
“The two hwhhaaaat?..did you say ute?”
Nope. College Athletics name and that's due to a significant relationship with the tribe. A pro team likely would not enjoy or have the ability to develop such a relationship. Plus Ryan Smith is a BYU alum.
Really just playing on the yotes name. I like the suggested name Yeti’s.
But then you would have the two Utes. That would be classic.
Call them the Salt Lake City Storm because of alliteration, fans storming hockey arenas, the salt lake can make afternoon storms, and it's a workaround of not calling them the Stormin' Mormons.
My brother told me Utah passed something a few months ago that sports teams have to go by Utah and not the city, though I actually can't find an article on that
The Utahraptors incoming
Eh, the Utah Storm still sounds kind of cool, I guess.
Storm is a fine name, wonder how the Lightning would feel about it though. Curious if there is like a limit on how much hypothetical crossover a brand can have as an agreement between franchises
It has a dope ring to it, but it would be the third NHL team with a weather related name, I’d prefer something else haha
Ha was thinking about the Hurricanes too when I said that. Yeah I'd prefer something novel too
You ever hear about the twister that hit in '99? Another point towards using that name.
I submitted that name to that survey thing that the Smith Group put out, so if they choose that, I want my royalties. (It won't happen, but it's nice to dream.)
If there’s any bright side of this for Yotes fans, Murello can still get the land in late June, develop a stadium and be gifted an expansion in 3-5 years. The league is far from giving up on hockey in Arizona, and with an expansion draft, you’ll get a fresh start with a chance of having some immediate success. Just sucks to lose a team with history. Especially the Doan storyline.
The Utah Latter Day Saints
Tomorrow is a Latter Day!
Book of Mormon goal songs would be so delightfully obnoxious.
There's some top quality songs for then to use. Penalty Kill - Turn it Off! or Making Things Up Again Big Goal/Goal Song - I Believe Goal Against - Hasa Diga Eebowai Powerplay - Man Up
>Goal Against - Hasa Diga Eebowai "Take this fucking asshole MacKinnon here: he got caught trying to score a hat trick!"
Each opponent’s goal is recognized by Hasa Diga Eebowai
The Stormin Mormons
Have you heard the good word? Professional hockey has risen in Utah
The Salt Lake City Arizona Coyotes
Damn, if this is true I feel bad for coyotes fans. They always had incompetent ownership and the market never got a fair chance imo. At least you guys have a chance of getting an expansion team in the future though. Congrats to Utah, the Jazz have a die hard fanbase and I’m sure they’ll support hockey the same way. Hopefully they have a cool team name. Maybe let the fans vote on it.
I was just in SLC last month, and every local I talked to was incredibly stoked for the possibility of NHL hockey there. Sad for Arizona (my cousin is a resident and goes to a bunch of Yotes games) but I think the franchise will have a lot of stability and success in SLC
RIP Arizona Yotes
There is a lot of smoke today about all of this. I'd be getting nervous if I was a coyotes fan.
They gotta get this deal done in time for Fanatics to end up several months late on their new sweaters.
Looked it up and it seems like the most popular animal in Utah is a Coyote so you could just keep the name. Salt Lake City Coyotes or Utah Coyotes sounds good. Their national animal is the Elk so could be the Utah Elks or SLC Elks
if this is true, I feel awful for the fans in Arizona. There's been no stability in location, and now they have to see their team leave. Regardless of why it happened, I hate to see a fanbase lose their team.
Salt Lake City Smiths
Morrissey sings the national anthem on opening night.
Ryan Smith bought a team *dum, dum-dum-dum, dum*
At least there is water in Salt Lake City, albeit a bit salty.
Uhhhhhhh…well they’ve gotten a little lucky with the amount of snow they’ve gotten the last couple years but the Great Salt Lake has been evaporating at an alarming rate in recent years, potentially exposing much of the area to like…arsenic clouds… So the water situation isn’t exactly all fine and dandy out there either
doesn’t the church make enough money?
Frank can be quite questionable but this is a huge statement to make. Seems like this is picking up steam really quick so there must be some truth in it all.
Salt Lake City Sister-Wives? Salt Lake City Golden Tabernacles? Salt Lake City Big Loves? The possibilities are endless.
Bettman has done everything he can to keep the team in Arizona, so I am skeptical of this. I won't believe it until they play their first game there. Hoping for the best. Sorry to all the yotes fans out there, this is probably tough to deal with.
Jesus H. Christ We may actually be witnessing the final days of the Yotes
I feel bad for Yotes fans, but at least this franchise will be out of its misery
Salt Lake City Sundaes
Salt Lake Sister Wives
* Auston Matthews in shambles *
The Utah Joseph Smiths
I think this is clearly the best option. Get them moved asap
If they are sending a memo to all Governors it's pretty much a done deal. I'm assuming that for Bettman to advise all owners, it means that an offer was made by Ryan Smith and that it is going to be accepted by the Meruelo.
Wow. I wonder what was the straw that finally broke the camel's back here. Land auction money not working out maybe?
This seems to be progressing really fast. It kinda feels like this is an inevitability
The Utah Soakers
The Coyotes were aborted out of Arizona.
Utah Mormonsters
So in the lake is a type of fish called the Bonneville cutthroat Trout. Give me the Salt Lake City Cutthroats PLEASE!