The only thing more exciting to hockey fans than a player in free agency is an entire franchise going into free agency, which it now feels like the Arizona Coyotes have just done. And they certainly don’t mind treading all over the feelings of whatever Coyotes fans are left. It’s a cruel world, but the Yotes are almost certainly headed for the exit door. Where are they going?
Follow Sam on Twitter @Felsgate as he continues to orchestrate getting Mitch Marner to the Hawks.
This is the obvious one, for a couple of reasons. One, there’s a building already there in the Toyota Center. Second, it wouldn’t involve any realigning of divisions, as Houston fits snugly into the Central Division that the Coyotes were already in. There’s the added benefit of a built-in rivalry with Dallas, if that’s the kind of thing that gets you your jollies. It’s also the seventh-biggest TV market and the 4th biggest city. One would think anyone could fashion a fandom out of such a pool, even if the Coyotes suck ass for a few years to start.
That doesn’t mean it’s automatic. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta (that’s actually his name, somehow) has talked to Gary Bettman in the past about getting a team in Houston, though that was in the round of expansion that eventually went to Seattle. Rumors had it that Fertitta wasn’t exactly thrilled about what the expansion price was, but this would be purchasing a distressed asset that might fit more comfortably into his portfolio. That’s if the Yotes owners either want to or can be forced into selling. And if they can’t, you’re dealing with tenants in someone else’s building which comes with its own knots.
Still, this one seems the simplest, cleanest, and best.
Certainly Jazz owner Ryan Smith has been making enough noise about getting an NHL team to the area. But this one isn’t nearly as clean as Houston. The biggest problem is that Jazz’s arena, Vivint Arena, simply isn’t built for hockey. See for yourself:
This was the first problem the Coyotes ran into, and the league shouldn’t be running into a situation that very well might require another building to be built when there are other, turn-key options.
Second, it would fuck with alignment. Salt Lake City doesn’t fit into the Central Division, much worse than Phoenix did. This might require some rejiggering or just dealing with a bunch of complaints from the other Central teams about the miles they’ll have to cover jetting out to Utah twice a year.
And to boot, Salt Lake is tiny — 34th TV market. As far as pro sports go there’s only the Jazz so there probably is an appetite for more, but there are hurdles here that there aren’t elsewhere.
Forget it. Even though this is the most awesome option.
QC has a building ready to go that they would sell out for the season tomorrow if they were allowed. It’s twice the size, population-wise, of Salt Lake. If the goal was to put the team where it will be forever supported without doubt, this is by far the best answer.
But…it’s another Canadian team and Gary Bettman would puke up a lung before allowing in another team shelling out American dollars but making Canadian dollars after being unable or unwilling to stop the Jets from becoming alive again. The Canadiens wouldn’t exactly roll out a red carpet for another team in a province that they’ve had the run of for nearly 30 years now. Realignment would have to come about at some point soon, which would probably mean punting either Detroit or Columbus back to the West after the whole rigamarole that led them bellyaching to the East in the first place (though watching Wings fans soak their socks in their own piss is one of the best reasons to do it).
But come on, we could get these beauties back and games with the Canadiens that will remind everyone what hockey is all about. QC won’t give a damn that the team will probably be bad for a little while longer, and it will instantly become one of the best buildings in terms of atmosphere in the league. In a vacuum this is the best answer next to Houston, but if Bettman worked in a vacuum, would the Coyotes have been in Arizona this long?
The former leverage darlings of any team angling for a new arena in their current town, the KC momentum has cooled in recent years. There’s a building ready in the T-Mobile Center. There’s no competition from basketball, so it’s something of a captive market. No realignment is necessary, and a built-in, toothless, illiterate rivalry with St. Louis is right there.
Still, it’s not nearly the TV market that Houston is, and a team that isn’t ready to win might not grab the locals’ attention fully after the novelty wears off. It’s hard to think of a reason to do this instead of Houston unless a possible owner pops up that the NHL simply can’t ignore.
A true underdog, which is generally how that place likes it. Unlike most of the other candidates besides Quebec, there’s a pretty long hockey history here with the Winterhawks of the WHL. The Moda Center already hosts the Winterhawks for half their schedule, and as the Blazers, Timbers, and Thorns have proven, the Portland area will get passionate about any team you give them. Would get a hockey version of the Cascadia Cup with Seattle and Vancouver. It makes a lot of sense.
That said, Portland isn’t very big, and there would have to be a realignment, probably kicking Vegas to the Central. The NHL could do away with this problem by just getting rid of division altogether, but I’ll be the lone loon on a tree stump screaming at the rain until the day I die.
As strange as it may sound, this isn’t completely dead. Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast has been musing that the NHL could go to new Suns owner Mat Ishbia and his missing T and basically beg to reconfigure Footprint Center
to accommodate hockey. This is the hail mary of hail marys, but you can sort of see it if Ishbia sees greater capacity for basketball in the future.
But it would be a multi-year project, and it’s unlikely that Ishbia wants limited capacity for the Suns while the work is done, or they’d do something like what they did at MSG to remodel in the offseasons. It would allow Bettman to not have to admit defeat, but it also involves a lot of construction which the other places don’t. And it’s hard to see a huge selling point for the Suns to bite on.