In the past year, the saga of the Arizona Coyotes finally had its conclusion. After years of being the laughing stock of the league, the team moved a Utah.
To be exact, these are all assets that were sent to Utah, while the Coyotes became an inactive franchise. But in concrete terms, this is the principle of moving.
This is obviously a shame for the community in Arizona, which has seen many owners run the organization all crooked. The team played in an NCAA arena with 5,000 seats, after all: it lacked seriousness, and we can understand some fans for dropping out.
That said, we know that the NHL would eventually like to return to Arizona (with new owners)… and we feel that things are moving a little in this direction in the desert.
Indeed, as reported by Craig Morgan (who is well connected in Arizona), a committee was set up by elected officials in Arizona. The goal of this committee: to bring an NHL team to Arizona.
The big question, obviously, will be at the arena level. We know that this is what sank the Coyotes, and it will take a new arena (worthy of the NHL, this time) to accommodate a team from the Bettman circuit.
But obviously, the steps seem serious. Morgan notes that Gary Bettman met with the committee before Christmas, and Tom Galvin, who is behind the committee, says there have already been “several meetings.”
He added that Bettman looks forward to working with the committee.
It will be necessary to find a group of serious owners for such a project to move forward. But clearly, in Arizona, we seem serious in our preliminary steps.
With Atlanta also in the race to find a team, we can almost imagine an expansion to bring back two teams that disappeared in the last 15 years, the Thrashers and the Coyotes.
And meanwhile, in Quebec…
In burst
– Anyway!
– Grant McCagg is not too worried about Juraj Slafkovský.
– A CMJ in Trois-Rivières?
– I like it.
– Jake McCabe on the sidelines. Yesterday’s images were disturbing.
