The Arizona Coyotes’ proposed plan to spend the next few years in an Arizona State University facility has drawn plenty of concern across the hockey world, but perhaps none more pointed than the quotes from other NHL executives in Sean Shapiro’s newest piece for The Athletic. Shapiro spoke to executives from nine organizations, who, under an agreement that their identities would remain anonymous, had some pretty harsh words for the ASU plan.
Several of them called it “embarrassing” according to Shapiro, who delves into the financial impact that playing at a small rink, including in-ice and board advertisement revenue that could be at risk. The idea to play at the ASU facility currently seems the most likely outcome of the Coyotes’ search for a temporary home, but they are going to have to face very public criticism in the meantime.
- Casey Mittelstadt will consult with a surgeon over next steps after leaving Sunday’s game in pain, according to John Vogl of The Athletic. The young forward already went under the knife in December for an undisclosed upper-body injury and only returned to the lineup on January 25. He has played in seven games this season, recording a single goal and two points. If he is forced to have another surgery, it looks like this could be a lost season for the 23-year-old, who signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal in September. Since being selected eighth overall in 2017, Mittelstadt has recorded 63 points in 162 NHL games.
- Pat Verbeek appears to be the frontrunner for the Anaheim Ducks vacant general manager position, as Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff names him “the man to beat.” Verbeek, who has served as an assistant general manager under Steve Yzerman in both Tampa Bay and Detroit, played over 1,400 regular season games in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999. He sits 72nd on the all-time points list with 1,062 and has been linked to potential GM openings for several years.
Very interesting, harsh words from other league executives directed at those pesky Ky-Yoots. So much for them caring about their image, either locally, or league-wide. I wish I could remember the source, but a few weeks ago I heard someone (I hope it wasn’t Tyson Nash, or Craig Morgan, but I can’t remember exactly) state with an apparently straight radio-face that there is a fairly strong fan base there. I did what most of us on this forum would do and yelled back at the interweb radio, “WHAT???” It seems like they really are competing with Pegulas, Inc. on which franchise can be the absolute worst in the NHL.
Pat Verbeek was a good player and all, but if you ever need evidence of 80’s scoring inflation…1,062 career points???
He’d be a 40-50 point player in today’s game.
Regarding Arizona…I’m not one of those people who thinks it’s impossible for hockey to succeed in Phoenix, but…
The Coyotes have had some of the absolute worst owners I’ve ever seen. The new ones might be the biggest clowns on them all.
As a Phoenician, who grew up in NYC and went to hundreds of Rangers games at MSG during my 30 years there, going to half empty Coyotes games is really depressing. Seeing the energy when the big name teams come in and visiting fans make the building fill at least to 2/3 capacity gives me some hope hockey will stay in AZ but odds are in the long run, it won’t work out here. However, I don’t hate the idea of a temporary 3 year move to the ASU facility because the place would at least be filled to capacity and rocking every game if Yotes fans continued to come to games even after the move. 5000 fans is less than the average home attendance and once again in games against NYR, EDM, PIT, COL, CAL, TOR, WAS and others it would actually a hot ticket and tiered pricing for those contests (like many Baseball teams have done in the past) could help the expected drop in revenue to not be as drastic.
Just read that Yotes piece and it seems there is an obvious solution that no one has proposed yet…
Make the Coyotes owners pay.
Make them take their own money and put it into “hockey related revenue”. There is no reason the players or other owners should have to subsidize the Yotes mismanagement.
They should at least have to replace the revenue difference between 5,000 and the 11,500 fans they are getting now. And I could make arguments for why they should pay more than that, but that should be the bare minimum.
How’s about this hot take
Move the team to a city that already has a stadium and can fill that stadium and has an owner that will roster a competitive team?
We know this like Atlanta as long someone is willing to own the team. the team will not move gary’s ego will not handle that. The only reason atlanta moved no one wanted to buy them. They only endup in winnipeg because wanted to save other places for expansion. people gary only goes to quebec of he has no other option. If you can find watch press conference when winnipeg arrived from Atlanta the last place gary wants tobe that day is in winnipeg. gary would put team in boise idaho or des moines iowa before goes to Quebec city.
Alex Meruelo wants those suites at ASU arena. That will help off set losses he has sustained so far only to get worse. His long term has to be the casino tied to the new Coyotes arena. He will make up the current losses once that happens. Good long term strategy. I assume the Coyotes assumed Gila River would give them one more year. Maybe GRA made them think that. But other than this ASU deal. The Coyotes have zero options. Other options will take too long to get ready for hockey. Unless they end up playing on the road first half of next season.