NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 11, 2024
Recaps of Wednesday’s games, the Coyotes could move to Salt Lake City, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The St. Louis Blues kept their playoff hopes alive with a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Jordan Kyrou scored twice as the Blues scored on their first four shots and Robert Thomas picked up a goal and an assist. With a record of 42-32-5 (89 points), the Blues sit three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the final Western Conference wildcard berth. Blackhawks rookie Landon Slaggert scored his first NHL goal.
St. Louis Blues winger Jordan Kyrou (NHL Images).
Speaking of the Golden Knights (42-28-8), they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Edmonton Oilers. Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who improved to 48-24-5 and moved into ninth in the overall standings with 101 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers played without captain Connor McDavid as he’s day-to-day with a lower-body injury. He’s expected to return to action at some point during their remaining five games before the end of the regular season.
An overtime goal by Logan Cooley lifted the Arizona Coyotes to a 4-3 upset of the Vancouver Canucks. Dylan Guenther had a goal and three assists for the Coyotes. Quinn Hughes collected three assists for the 48-22-9 as they sit fifth overall with 105 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Coyotes deserve credit for playing as well as they did against one of the league’s top teams considering the uncertainty about their futures in Arizona. Speaking of which…
HEADLINES
DAILY FACEOFF: Frank Seravalli was the first to report that Coyotes ownership and the NHL were working on an agreement to sell and relocate the franchise to Salt Lake City.
The league and the Coyotes have reportedly made what Seravalli’s sources called “significant and meaningful progress” on an agreement with Smith Entertainment Group that would have the team playing in Salt Lake City next season.
It’s believed the Coyotes players have been informed a “verbal agreement” is in place. However, nothing is officially in place as the deal is complicated with much work still to be done. Meanwhile, the league is working on two schedules for 2024-25, one with the Coyotes in Arizona and the other with the team in Salt Lake City.
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reported one Coyotes player said there are rumors of “meeting about the future” before he and his teammates go their separate ways for the offseason.
Friedman indicated the league is working as a broker with Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo and prospective Utah owner Ryan Smith. He claims multiple sources said a real scenario has the league paying Meruelo $1 billion for the Coyotes, then selling the club to Smith for $1.2 billion.
Meruelo would also be offered a five-year exclusive window to bring an expansion team to Arizona.
The Coyotes owner hopes to win a land auction on June 27 for a parcel of land on which he wants to build an arena and sports entertainment complex. The league initially hoped to let the auction play out but there is concern over what would happen if Meruelo lost the auction and the possibility of playing another three seasons at Mullett Arena. According to Friedman, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for the latter.
ARIZONA SPORTS: Kevin Zimmerman lists several factors that could see the Coyotes relocated to Salt Lake City.
He noted that there are “many entities” that don’t want the Coyotes building an arena in the Phoenix area. Among them is Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega, who wrote a letter indicating the biggest problem was the Coyotes’ lack of consultation with Scottsdale regarding infrastructure issues like traffic and water mains.
Zimmerman also believes the NHL and NHL Players’ Association appear to be losing confidence in the Coyotes’ efforts to construct a new arena.
As for why Ryan Smith prefers to bring an existing franchise to Salt Lake City over an expansion club, it’s because it would bring NHL hockey more quickly to Utah. The Coyotes are an “intriguing hockey product” with promising young players such as Clayton Keller and Matias Maccelli and a general manager who is preaching patience with his rebuilding project.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reported the NHL sent a status report memo to its Board of Governors on Wednesday in response to the media coverage of this story. The memo stressed that there is still nothing done as there are “moving parts” to this situation.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Having followed the Coyotes ownership saga for nearly two decades, I realize that nothing is set in stone and this situation could take another dramatic twist. Nevertheless, this is the first time that it feels that relocation is imminent. While it’s a complicated scenario that could fall apart in the coming weeks, this seems like a genuine effort by the team’s owner, the league and a prospective buyer in Salt Lake City to make this move happen.
The Coyotes cannot continue as they have in Arizona. It’s not feasible to play in the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena for another three years given the uncertainty over whether a new arena will be built. NHLPA leadership has spoken out in recent months about the Coyotes’ handling of its arena situation because it’s a drag on hockey-related revenue.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has fought for two decades to keep the struggling Coyotes in Arizona because it’s one of the biggest markets in North America. While his patience is long, it’s not endless, and I daresay he’s hearing grumbling from a growing chorus of existing NHL team owners.
I feel sorry for Coyotes fans. They knew this day was coming but it still sucks. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of people supported the Coyotes for decades through the good and mostly bad times. Decades of bumbling by multiple owners and general managers brought this franchise to this point. Coyotes fans deserve better.
THE SCORE: Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is still working on bringing an NHL franchise to his city. “I’m working on it, “ he said. The Rockets play in the 19,000-seat Toyota Center, which would hold 17,800 fans when converted for hockey.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maybe Houston becomes a viable alternative if efforts to relocate the Coyotes to Salt Lake City fall through. Otherwise, expect an expansion franchise in Houston (and one in Atlanta) before 2030. It’s going to happen. The league will expand to 34 franchises and perhaps 35 if the NHL attempts to return to Arizona.
TSN: Darren Dreger reports a Philadelphia Flyers management source said John Tortorella will not be losing his job as head coach despite the club’s recent downturn.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This comes in response to speculation that Tortorella would be fired or be moved into a management role.
THE ATHLETIC: Aaron Portzline reports Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Adam Fantilli will miss the remainder of the season. He’s been sidelined by a lacerated calf since Jan. 28. However, Fantilli could skate for Team Canada at next month’s World Championships if he’s fully recovered by then.
NHLPA: The results of the latest players’ poll have been released. Follow the link provided for the results on the players’ views on topics such as the top positional players, the most complete player the toughest arena to play in, the best dressed, and more.
Well, the saga continues. Hopefully the Coyotes are playing in Salt Lake in the fall but, man, how can the NHL even consider expansion? If the object is to have the best hockey teams in the world, contraction makes the most sense but money talks and common sense walks.
Thank heavens for golf – oh wait…..
They easily have the best hockey teams in the world. And could definitely expand and still have the best teams in the world. Who is competing with them? Khl? They do have to amend that silly chl agreement though.
True re the CHL thing, Chris, but the NCAA is quickly becoming another pro league so there’s no point in keeping players from the CHL back.
And, yes, the NHL is the best hockey in the world but how good would it be with fewer teams, not more?
An expansion team in Arizona? Seriously? So we can have more of this mess? And I thought Atlanta was a dumb idea.
And now they’re considering Atlanta “take 3”. Smh.
At this time I’d rather not see expansion in the NHL.
NBA 30 teams
MLB 30 teams
NFL 32 teams.
Does the NHL really believe they’re bigger than the other leagues? Revenue, fan bases, merchandising etc. say the NHL is the red headed step child of sports. At least for the time being.
They need to make sure all 32 current teams are strong enough to stand on their own before they can even think expansion. Right now, 4-6 (possibly more on the way) teams are struggling. Fix them and then talk expansion.
Right now, the only good that would come out of expansion is the cap problems in the NHL being a little offset by another expansion draft.
With apologies to Coyotes fans, Mullett Arena has about the same number of seats as Taft Stadium, the former home of the ECHL Columbus Chill.
This silly soap opera has to end. Sell the team (either Houston or SLC) and let the Coyotes flourish. If a decent arena can be built in the Phoenix metro area, an expansion team is possible…..if stable ownership can be found.
Re Oilers and Vegas last nite,
Went to the game it was a good game….
The oilers looked like we ment business last night
we were 6 rows behind the Oiler bench, ( Xmas Gift )
Paul coffey is one cool due, did not say much to the players But when he did it was a 1 liners and he got a nod back from them. The New Coach
Kris Knoblauch did not say much at all during the first period, half way throu the 2nd he directed a few things with the forward group…
Evander Kane did not look like himself … maybe a little lost again last night ❓
Call upo from Bako, Dylan Hollaway was flying last night he had a couple of Great oppertunitys him & Ryan McLeod were to fast for L.V.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, stopped Anthony Mantha on a breakaway with six minutes left in the second, Stu played great All night again.
Last but not least Ekholm continued his Great physical play of late knocking down 3-4 LV players in the oilers zone last night, scoring a great goal
Nurse looked like he was not there half the night no physical play, not much from a guy thats getting $9.M next year…. a other very quite night for him….❓Not impressed at all with Nurse
Salt Lake City = NOT A HOCKEY MARKET…. was on the air there for years as a DJ and running some radio stations.
I talked about Hockey alot… no one cared…and that was closer to when to Olympics had been there….
You heard it here first.
“If you build it, they will come.” mentality. But this is not a fantasy movie, but real life.
Well SLC has more hockey fans than Phoenix
It’s not the gross population that counts; its the number of actual fans
They are ripe for a team; and will definitely have at least 3 times as many in the stands than at Mullet
The best move for the League of course is to have Houston Yotes.
No matter what; they just can’t stay in Arizona
This opportunity is there now; take it.
Next expansion, Houston and Quebec (34 teams)
Bettman has fumbled this way to long
Muerello has to be dancing all over town on this one. Doesn’t have to spend $600 M to build, with 4 more years of massive losses at Mullet ; and then lose money at new arena; but mostly, he’s selling an asset currently valued at $450 M-$500 M (depending on which source of evaluation you take) and is selling it for $1B. At least doubling his asset value. But if you take into account the present value of all the futures years’ losses; he’s likely 3 times better off come this fall.
Wow
Name change?
The SLC Tabernacles
I’m confident that a move to SLC will have everyone in Quebec City saying Tabernac
Haha, I could think of MANY names for a SLC team. None of them would be very PC….bwahahaha
If this move happens, why not use a name that was used years ago for a minor league team in Salt Lake City: the Golden Eagles.
That could have a really cool logo!
Just a thought…
Check out this site with the full history of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, especially the logos that have a circle. They look cool!
https://texliebmann.tripod.com/hockey/eagles/slgeold.htm#COL
Agree Starsfan re many non politically correct names. Of course not to be posted here.
Kyle
Golden Eagles has a nice ring. Not sure if owners can use that name (rights?) without approval
Fairly sure they’ll reach out to public for suggestions and procure a PR/consulting firm re naming team; moniker; colors; mascot etc etc
Wonder if they might tie in anything to do with the great landscape of Utah (5 spectacular National Parks with beautiful Canyons: Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonland, Capitol Reef)??
I believe Utah’s state animal is the Elk
Yes yes yes
The SLC Yotes
What a sham by Bettmam for so many years costing owners and players Hundreds of Millions of dollars.
But re:
“Meruelo would also be offered a five-year exclusive window to bring an expansion team to Arizona.”
This must be called the “idiot clause” of the deal/contract, and the only reason it’s there is for Bettman to save face. What a 💩storm.
Playing in front of 4,600 is an embarrassment. Had they stayed and won the lottery; I would think (well he better) Celebrini’s agent would tell him to never even meet with Yotes to force them to trade the pick and if they didn’t trade it and picked him; to stay in his seat at the draft and then play in Europe.
See the reaction of current players. They can’t wait to leave.
Re “Darren Dreger reports a Philadelphia Flyers management source said John Tortorella will not be losing his job as head coach despite the club’s recent downturn.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This comes in response to speculation that Tortorella would be fired or be moved into a management role.”
Are you kidding me? If Torts remains as coach (or moved upstairs); shame in Briere.
This is not as bad as Bettman not admitting his mistakes and doubling down year after year after year and costing hundreds of millions of HRR; but it is very bad for the Flyers.
As a Penguins fan, I say let Torts suit up; make him Captain; and have him be player/coach…, go 8-70-4 for the season
Pengy/8787/ striker what are you talking about? It’s fine if you don’t like the coach; however it’s just the fact you don’t like Torts isn’t a good enough reason he shouldn’t be a coach.
Philly was never suppose to be competing for a playoff spot and Torts was the early favorite for coach of the year.
If Carter Hart wasn’t one of the five, Philly would’ve already locked up a playoff spot.
Yes it will still be a disappointment if Philly doesn’t get it; however they still exceeded expectations by a long shot.
Again
NOT Pengy
Pengy and I agree on a fair deal regarding Penguins. We disagree on Ruhwedel (Pengy hates him).
Zero agreement regarding Leafs (I definitely dislike the Leafs) .
Pengy is Canadian I think but definitely said he lives in Toronto. I’m born and raised here, but my mom’s grandmother (my great grandmother) was from Alberta.
I think Pengy is also about 15 or 20 years older than me and I think he only has sons. I’ve got two sets of twin daughters and just 1 son.
I’m a professor and he is a businessman.
He’s rich, we’re middle income.
We both love penguins
Re Torts:
You are absolutely right, the fact that I personally don’t like him is no reason to fire him.
He’s not a likeable guy; most people dislike him.
He’s not getting results and he now has lost support (efforts by) of the players.
Early favourite for Coach of the year; No. Earlier in the year a couple of media stated that the “achieving above expectations” Flyers performance MAY lead to SOME votes for Torts
Torts has a younger team with fair skills and the loss of Hart (just 906 this year which id basically the same as 21/22 and 22/23) was not the “exceeding expectations” push by the Flyers. He was performing at par for him; which was less than average for goalies in league.
The rest of the team was collectively doing well. Then a down set of games (any young team will have ups and downs periods)…. Then Torts does his usual Torts thing…. Collapse; out of playoffs
Having Torts remain as Coach is great for us other Metro Division fans; but Terrible for Flyers players and fans
Same old same old Torts…. Cite: exits in NYC, Vancouver, Columbus
Past his due date
“He’s rich”
Exactly something Pengy would say.
Honestly I don’t ever recall Pengy claiming he was rich, but I did hear he was a French model! “Bon jour” Americans will get that joke!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZbSlkFoSU
I just assumed he was rich
Has to be worth more than us even with our dollar so much better.
Like that video. That guy is almost my doppleganger.
Just younger and better looking.
Aww give up the charade!
Arizona is “one of the biggest markets” in North America? For what? Tequila? Bananas? If it were for hockey then people there would have voted for a new arena complex years ago.
Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia are all bigger by population than Arizona, and Tennessee is effectively the same size. Utah is half the size of Arizona, and that’s the new hotbed of hockey now?
If the comment is about tv related coverage LA and Las Vegas are right next door to Arizona. That’s three NHL teams for tv viewers.
Pull up the webpage for the Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, and hockey is not listed on their marquee.
What is this nonsense about the Arizona market?
Phoenix not AZ by population.
Yes, I should’ve been clearer. I was referring to Phoenix, which is the 10th largest metro population in the United States. That’s the reason why the NHL fought so hard for so long to keep the Coyotes in that market.
Raw Population score means absolute squat re success of a franchise
This is where Bettman repeatedly went wrong and kept doubling down costing NHL owners and players hundreds of millions of dollars
He was told at the start, and repeatedly told the same over the years that Phoenix was not going to embrace hockey enough to make s successful franchise
Bettman repeatedly cited raw population in Phoenix as why they needed to stay
He was wring at the start; was wring all along; continued to be wrong
If that (big population means successful hockey franchise) is true, why not put a franchise in North Americas largest metro….22 million people and climbing….. why not…. Because there MAY be but a handful of people (of that 22 Million) that even know what hockey is
Metro SLC (at just under 1.3 Million) has way way more hockey fans than Phoenix (Metro at about 4.8 Million)
Houston has way more per capita hockey fans than Phoenix; and has 7.4 Million (Metro)…. So likely 15-20 times the actual number of hockey fans (to Phoenix)
Quebec City Metro of about 840 thousand has at least 10 times the number of hockey fans as Phoenix
Even small cities in Canada like Regina (maybe 250,000 Metro) and Halifax (maybe 450,000 Metro) have waaaay more hockey fans than Phoenix
Huge population does NOT equal hockey franchise success
Current and forecasted future local hockey fans are the proper indicators of hockey franchise success
Phoenix didn’t have many hockey fans; doesn’t have many hockey fans; won’t have many hockey fans in the future
Experiment failed; cost owners and players hundreds of millions of dollars; experiment over
Expect sellouts in SLC through Christmas
Re; AZ/Phoenix Hockey Market.
I think every one agrees Phoenix is Not a Hockey Market. it took GB almost 20 years to figure that one out🙈
The Owner Alex Meruelo has been String every one along for years with his Bull _hit………
Looking for land there is lots of land down there in the Phoenix Area, the NHL Board of goveners has had enough and cant do any more.
There off to Salt Lake City for the 2024/25 season and there Tickets will sell out fast for the Delta Centre
Not sure about the 1.Billion dollar price tag for a a poorly run team,
Im sure they are looking for a New Pressedent & New GM to get it going in SLC….
Pgoenix…5th most populated city in America…
The US doesn’t work that way. LA residents hate Phoenix teams and vice versa…its a sheer numbers game.
It not a sheer numbers game
Largest city in North America has 22 million in it’s Metro area; but of those 22 Million only a handful know about hockey and bringing a franchise there would get a thousand fans max
Not a sheer numbers game
It’s a current and future hockey fans numbers game
Phoenix didn’t; doesn’t ; won’t ever have enough hockey fans for a successful NHL franchise
That is simply not true, 8787.
I refer you to the Coyotes annual attendance since 1996-97. Their numbers fluctuated from 1996-97 to 2019-20, often depending on the quality of the on-ice product. Nevertheless, their average attendance from 1996-97 to 2019-20 ranged between 13,041 to 15,586 for 20 of those 23 seasons. Respectable numbers for a club that missed the playoffs in 14 of those 23 seasons. https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=7450
Had the on-ice product been better, the ownership situation more stable, and the arena that they played in from 2003-04 to 2021-22 been located closer to downtown Phoenix, I believe we would’ve seen stronger support for this franchise.
Remember, they’d been dogged by decades of shaky ownership and threats of relocation several times in the past. Combine that with years of losing and it’s impressive that they had the numbers they did at the gate.
BTW, it’s interesting to note how the Penguins’ attendance sagged during the late 1990s until 2003-04. I recall that franchise was on the verge of relocation in 2004. It’s a good thing they won that 2005 Draft Lottery. Who knows how their situation might’ve turned out.
https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=7475
I think the biggest problem with the Yotes was ownership, and the decisions they made. They wouldn’t be playing in Mullet if the owner paid his bills and didn’t negotiate with constant threats of moving and doing 1 year deals. Building it there was a bad move to begin with as well.
I think the reason Meruelo has a 5 year window to get an expansion franchise is to get him to agree to this without a legal battle, and save face. Now he has to finance that new rink without a team in place, and a bad history with local gov. If you believe that will happen there are some Truth Social shares for sale.
I hope Arizona gets another team, with a good owner.
Sorry Lyle
We will just have to agree to disagree on this.
Most years Yotes were mid 80’s percentage of capacity and maxing in around 91% capacity
That’s “tickets sold” numbers not true attendance
And that was with many gimmicks such as the $10 for a ticket and a hotdog promotion (which we took advantage of a couple of times when we vacation in Phoenix)
Those low percentages for “sold” tickets at low prices with that big of s city, is just abysmal
Yes , better product should result in bigger numbers
That said; the original projections (and all subsequent ones) were that Phoenix would very likely fail as a franchise.
The projections were right
Bettman knew this all along
You are bang on re Penguins likely moving to Canada without the Crosby lottery win
Glad they didn’t
That said, our beautiful city has always had many more hockey fans than Phoenix
And we actually only have 300,000 in our city proper with about 2.4 Million in our commuting (Pittsburgh Metro area) area
It was, and is , a wrong move to have NHL in Arizona
“That’s “tickets sold” numbers not true attendance”
It’s the same for every team, including your Penguins.
“And that was with many gimmicks such as the $10 for a ticket and a hotdog promotion (which we took advantage of a couple of times when we vacation in Phoenix)”
Most teams employ “gimmicks” at one time or another. You make it sound like they did that throughout their tenure. They didn’t.
“That said; the original projections (and all subsequent ones) were that Phoenix would very likely fail as a franchise.
The projections were right”
Only because of multiple owners and years of mismanagement resulted in an on-ice product that reached the playoffs just nine times in 27 years.
Look, if the Coyotes had stable ownership throughout their tenure, were well-managed, regularly iced a competitive product, and had those attendance numbers or worse, you’d get no argument out of me that Phoenix (or Arizona) isn’t a hockey market.
Fact is, this team was behind the eight-ball for most of its tenure for reasons that in most cases were of their own making. Most teams starting out like they did likely wouldn’t have done much better.
I agree with Pengy that the ticket prices definitely have to factor into the attendance calculations. NHL is a gate driven league!
Man, I agree about Arizona! It’s long been passed time. Only because of Bettman’s stubbornness has the Coyotes thing been continued. I did go to a Coyotes game in 2008 when out there visiting my brother vs Penguins. By the way, Malkin dominated the whole game like a bull in a China shop, however, some of their fans seemed like die hard fans? But the fact that the community dosen’t seem willing to assist the club or there are problems with the relationship between whoever owns them and the community, is not good? I don’t know? I am not knowledgeable enough but it isn’t working. I am for Quebec or Atlanta; however, agree with those comments that there should be no Moe expansion until the other 4 teams are stable like someone suggested. I forget who it was.
If the Coyotes had so many fans their subreddit would have more than 50 users online right now and the main threads would have more than 30-40 comments…
I don’t believe you can base how an organization will do based solely on population, market etc.
demographics , demographics, demographics.
Atlanta is a great example ditto Miami. You’re simply targeting the wrong audience unless you’re willing to invest 20+ years into building a fan base.
Poor Arizona attendance is a myth that keeps growing in the telling.
Over the years they have frequently had higher attendance than Florida, NJ, San Jose, Buffalo, Winnipeg.
Ownership and poor relationships with civic authorities is the problem, the fans are there.