(WGR 550) - For the first time since the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba back in 2011, a National Hockey League franchise is set to relocate after several tumultuous years.
According to multiple reports on Friday, the Arizona Coyotes organization announced it intentions to its players to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah beginning next season. Coyotes beat reporter Craig Morgan was the first to report the news, as general manager Bill Armstrong informed the players before the game that the team will move.
Coyotes players were not made available to the media on Friday after their 3-2 overtime win over the Oilers. Head coach Andre Tourigny also did not take any questions about the move.
An announcement of the sale of the team from Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo to the NBA's Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith could happen after the NHL's regular season wraps up on Thursday. The team would then play at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City after some renovations to make it an hockey-friendly arena.
The Salt Lake City metro area already has a professional hockey team with the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies playing just a 13-minute drive from the Delta Center, but the Maverik Center in West Valley City only holds a capacity of 12,000.
The smallest NHL arena, outside of Mullett Arena where the Coyotes currently play, is Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, which holds a capacity of 15,321 seats. Mullett Arena is located on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, and holds a capacity of 4,600.
The Coyotes have called Mullett Arena home for the last two seasons after playing between 2003 and 2022 at Gila River Arena (now Desert Diamond Arena) in Glendale. The team also played at America West Arena (now Footprint Arena) in Phoenix from 1996 to 2003.
TSN NHL insider Pierre LeBrun says the NHL continues to work at a solution to make the move of the Coyotes to Salt Lake City official, but there are still "major issues to be resolved" before anything is formally announced.
The Coyotes have called the desert home in Arizona since 1996 after the City of Phoenix was rewarded with a hockey team when the Jets originally relocated from Winnipeg.
In 2,060 games played as the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, the franchise went 882-898-94-186 and making the NHL playoffs nine times.
After making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five of the franchise's first six years in Arizona, the Coyotes went six-straight seasons before returning to the postseason. After a three-year stretch of playoff hockey, which included a trip to the Western Conference Final in 2012, the Coyotes have missed the postseason in 10 of the last 11 years.
This season, the Coyotes are 35-40-5 and sitting in seventh place in the Central Division. They have also been eliminated from playoff contention once again.
The NHL is still reportedly interested in returning to Arizona sometime in the future. According to John Gambodoro from 98.7 FM in Phoenix, Meruelo has agreed to sell the team after he secured a contractual right to reactivate the franchise within five years of the date of the agreement, and trigger an expansion draft if an arena is built. This would, however, require him to pay back the $1 billion that he is getting from the sale.
The Coyotes will play their last home game on Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers.
