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Coyotes To Participate In June Land Auction For New Arena

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It was announced late Thursday night that the Arizona State Land Department has officially posted a 95-acre parcel of land in northeast Phoenix for auction. It is this land that the Arizona Coyotes will hope to use for their next arena, per PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Web link). The auction will take place on June 27th and carry a minimum bid of $68.5 million. Other interested bidders aren’t currently public at this time, though Morgan references recent research that suggests only 22 percent of Arizona land auctions since 2017 have had multiple bidders (26 of 117 auctions).

That means that the Coyotes could end up unopposed as they pursue the site of their new home. That’s great news for the team’s visioning staff, who have mocked up an in-depth rendering of what Arizona’s new rink could look like (YouTube link). Per the rendering, the 95-acre plot would become the home to a 17,000-seat arena, an adjacent practice arena, a training facility, a theater, residential areas, and an entertainment area. The plan carries an estimated cost of more than $3B.

Morgan did an interview with team president and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez, where it was revealed that owner Alex Meruelo does not plan to use taxpayer dollars to fund this project. Gutierrez also shared that the land should transfer ownership within 30 days of the auction, if the Coyotes organization were to win. He added that this site shares all of the same zoning that the land parcel in Tempe carried, giving the team the ability to fully carry over their plans.

It seems things are turning around for the better for the Arizona Coyotes, who now have a date to look towards in their pursuit of a new home.

Evening Notes: Brazeau, Chabot, Tkachuk, Trenin

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Boston Bruins rookie forward Justin Brazeau will be out week-to-week after suffering an apparently upper-body injury. Not many details are available yet, but Brazeau flew back to Boston yesterday to meet with doctors and more information will be available in the coming days regarding the severity and the timeline of the injury.

Brazeau was hurt in the first period of the Bruins game on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators and did not return. He was stood up by Luke Schenn on the play and appeared to be favoring his arm or his shoulder while he received attention from the Bruins staff on the bench. In 19 games this season the 26-year-old rookie has five goals and two assists and has played predominantly in Boston’s bottom six.

In other evening notes:

  • Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch tweeted that he expects Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot to return to the lineup this weekend. The 27-year-old has battled injuries throughout the season with the most recent ailment keeping him out of the lineup since March 27th. Chabot’s absence was caused by a lower-body injury that was called a nagging injury by Senators staff. Chabot has dressed in just 44 games this season for Ottawa and has posted good offensive numbers with eight goals and 20 assists.
  • Matthew Tkachuk was back in the Florida Panthers lineup tonight as they routed the Senators 6-0. Tkachuk had a goal and two assists in 12:56 of ice time. Tkachuk didn’t dress for the Panthers on Tuesday in Montreal as he battled an illness but showed no ill effects of it tonight in Ottawa. With his three points this evening, Tkachuk now has 24 goals and 59 assists on the season in 75 games and is unlikely to eclipse the 100-point plateau for the third consecutive season.
  • Corey Masisak of The Denver Post tweeted that Colorado Avalanche center Yakov Trenin did not dress tonight for the game against the Minnesota Wild due to an undisclosed injury. Trenin was acquired at the trade deadline from the Predators and has dressed in 10 games with the Avalanche posting two goals. Colorado’s head coach Jared Bednar did tell reporters that Trenin could play tomorrow night when the Avalanche head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers.

Metro Notes: Shepard, Gaudreau, Fast

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The Washington Capitals have recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from their AHL affiliate the Hershey Bears. The 28-year-old Shepard has seen action with the Capitals already this season and made his NHL debut back in October when he led Washington to a victory over the New Jersey Devils. Shepard has a 2-1-1 record at the NHL level with a .894 save percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average.

Shepard’s recall is for cautionary purposes as the Capitals still have concerns about the status of Darcy Kuemper after he left yesterday’s practice in pain. Kuemper practiced today with the team and looked okay, but with Washington having a back-to-back against Pittsburgh and Carolina, the extra netminder was deemed a necessity.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets are without the services of Johnny Gaudreau this evening as he is dealing with an illness and was unable to dress for the game against the New York Islanders. Gaudreau had dressed in all 75 of the Blue Jackets games this season and has 11 goals and 45 assists in what has been another disappointing campaign for the 30-year-old since coming over as a free agent from Calgary in the summer of 2022.
  • Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff tweeted that Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast re-joined the team this evening for their game against the Boston Bruins. Fast has been dealing with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss the last six games and will now take the place of Jesperi Kotkaniemi who was a healthy scratch. The light-scoring Fast has just six goals and 12 assists in 66 games this season and has seen a drop in his average ice time by almost two minutes per game from his career average. Despite the reduction in ice-time, Fast has maintained strong underlying numbers, particularly at even strength. 

Atlantic Notes: Jeannot, Greenway, Crookshank

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Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tanner Jeannot will miss tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens as the rugged forward has been deemed day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Jeannot suffered the injury in last night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after fighting Ryan Reaves and taking a punch that brought him to the ice. The 26-year-old did not return after the fight.

Much was made last February when Tampa Bay acquired Jeannot in exchange for five draft picks and Callan Foote, and to this point, Estevan, Saskatchewan native hasn’t been able to come close to duplicating the success he had in Nashville. Through 50 games this season, Jeannot has six goals and seven assists and is -11.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

  • Bill Hoppe of The Times Herald tweeted that the Buffalo Sabres might get Jordan Greenway back into their lineup tomorrow night. The news comes from Sabres head coach Don Granato who said that Greenway remained a possibility to dress when the Sabres take on the Philadelphia Flyers. The seven-year veteran hasn’t dressed since last Saturday and has spent this week dealing with an upper-body injury, but is apparently okay after having imaging done earlier this week. Greenway has averaged a career-high 17:16 in ice time per game this season and has nine goals and 15 assists in 62 games.
  • Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun is reporting that Ottawa Senators forward Angus Crookshank is unlikely to return this season as he is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. The 24-year-old rookie has dressed in 13 games this year and has averaged just a shade over 10 minutes of ice time per game. He’s played in a bottom-six role but did get some top-6 minutes on his most recent recall and will likely be in the mix for a spot in the Senators forward group next season. Crookshank hasn’t produced much in the way of offence, but he has chipped in with two goals and an assist.

Golden Knights Recall Brendan Brisson

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The Golden Knights have brought Brendan Brisson back to the NHL roster, per a team announcement. His recall comes under emergency conditions after head coach Bruce Cassidy announced Tomáš Hertl won’t be ready to make his Vegas debut against the Coyotes tomorrow and said they’ll likely be without Nicolas Roy due to an undisclosed injury. Summoning Brisson guarantees them 12 healthy forwards in Arizona.

Brisson, 22, joins the Vegas roster for the first time since he was assigned to Henderson on March 13. The 2020 first-round pick has played in 13 games this season after making his NHL debut in January, doing quite well with two goals and seven points in limited ice time. A natural center, Brisson has mostly played wing throughout his first major-league stint, and he’ll likely do so again on a line with Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar if his services are needed tomorrow.

The Los Angeles native’s possession game has also been better than his -4 rating suggests. He’s recorded a 48.9 CF% and 50.0 xGF% at even strength, not jaw-dropping by any stretch but still better than the majority of his teammates when in the lineup. His positive impact on shot attempts has been strong in particular, as Vegas’ CF% with him on the ice is 4% better than without him across his limited run of play. He’s most frequently suited up alongside William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, skating over 43 minutes with them across six games, but has also logged significant time on lines with Karlsson and Michael Amadio as well as Howden and Paul Cotter.

Vegas has space to absorb Brisson’s $925K cap hit without making any corresponding moves, but only because Hertl remains on LTIR for the time being. When he’s ready to go, likely now for Monday’s game in Vancouver, they’ll need to assign two contracts to Henderson to activate him. As such, Brisson’s stay in the majors will be brief.

Brisson’s decent initial showing makes him a candidate to crack the Golden Knight’s opening night roster in 2024-25, especially considering he’s also done well on a poor Henderson team with 16 goals and 36 points in 50 games. His ELC remains valid for next season, after which he’ll be an RFA.

Coyotes Gauging Interest In Potential Buyers

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According to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has contacted multiple parties, including groups inside and outside the state, to gauge their interest in buying the franchise. He’s seeking an asking price of $1B, $50MM more than the Senators sold for when Michael Andlauer purchased the club last summer.

Gambadoro notes that the Coyotes have recently met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to update him on their current bid to remain in Arizona, which revolves around winning an auction for a plot of land on the city’s north side. When approached for comment by Gambadoro, the Coyotes said, “Mr. Meruelo and the team are solely focused on the land auction and winning the bid. And to keep the Coyotes in Arizona.”

The lack of a suitable arena has plagued the Coyotes’ long-term future ever since the city of Glendale, which oversaw their previous full-time home, Gila River Arena, opted not to renew their operating agreement in the 2021 offseason due to large debts the club owed to the city. Meruelo struck a deal with Arizona State University to share the brand-new 4,600-seat Mullett Arena through at least the 2024-25 season, heading to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe after the club submitted a bid to build an arena and surrounding entertainment district in the city. However, a public referendum of Tempe voters in May 2023 failed to greenlight the project, sending Arizona back to square one.

Unfortunately, Arizona state law dictates that the land auction could occur as late as 240 days after the city’s board of appeals approved the sale, which occurred on March 14. That could punt the Coyotes’ certainty on landing the plot into next season, as late as November 9. That’s a tough pill to swallow for the league, facing mounting pressure from NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh to provide a suitable major league environment for Coyotes players. The auction won’t happen until mid-June at the absolute earliest, as state law also rules that “there must be an auction advertisement in print media for a minimum of 10 weeks before the auction.” That has yet to occur.

Interested parties outside the state surely include Ryan Smith, the majority owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz. His Smith Entertainment Group filed a formal request for the league to initiate an expansion process in January and has been public recently about his desire to bring an NHL franchise to Salt Lake City, whether by expansion or relocation. The city has an NHL-ready but not necessarily ideal venue in the Delta Center, which has a capacity of 20,000 for NBA games but would be significantly reduced in a hockey configuration. The franchise would have a new arena by the end of the decade, though, as the city has already approved the construction of a new downtown venue ahead of the 2034 Winter Olympics.

Bettman has stated the league will return to the Phoenix market in the near future if the Coyotes relocate. They’ll likely hold off on doing so until a suitable, more central-location venue becomes available, however.

Canucks Reassign Arshdeep Bains

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The Canucks have sent winger Arshdeep Bains to AHL Abbotsford, GM Patrik Allvin announced Thursday. His spot in the lineup will go to one of Phillip Di Giuseppe, Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day-to-day) or Pius Suter, all of whom were scratched for yesterday’s 2-1 win over the Coyotes.

Bains, 23, signed an entry-level deal with the club two years ago and earned his first NHL recall in February amid a breakout season in Abbotsford. He was returned to the minors on March 1 but was given another chance with a second recall last week. He’s played eight games across his two stints on the roster, struggling with a -5 rating, 6 PIMs and only four shots on goal while averaging 11:48 per game.

Evidently not ready for major league action, the Surrey, British Columbia native will likely remain in Abbotsford for the rest of the season. He’s excelled there this season, posting 14 goals, 35 assists, 49 points, and a +15 rating in 53 games. Regardless of his lack of NHL impact thus far, he’s proven to be a smart undrafted free-agent pickup by Allvin and is one of the organization’s better forwards under the age of 25. He led the WHL in scoring two seasons ago with Red Deer, putting himself on NHL teams’ radars after a tumultuous major junior tenure up to that point. Bains has one season remaining on his ELC, which carries a cap hit of $817K.

Senators Activate, Reassign Rourke Chartier

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The Senators have activated forward Rourke Chartier from injured reserve and subsequently assigned him to AHL Belleville, per a team announcement. He’d missed 12 games with an upper-body injury.

Chartier, 28 yesterday, was summoned from Belleville under emergency conditions on March 8 but only played once, logging 11:23 against the Sharks before exiting the lineup. He was placed on IR later in the month to open a roster spot.

It was the second lengthy absence of the campaign for Chartier, who also missed 12 games with a concussion in December and January. That hasn’t stopped the Saskatoon native from making a career-high 37 appearances this season, scoring twice and adding an assist while averaging 10:46 per game. The minor-league mainstay is in his third season with the Senators organization and his second on an NHL contract in Ottawa after spending 2021-22 on a minor-league contract with Belleville.

A Sharks 2014 fifth-round pick, the former WHL All-Star played only 13 games with San Jose, all in the 2018-19 season. The following summer, after completing his entry-level contract, he was not awarded a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent, but concussion symptoms prevented him from being cleared to play, and he sat out the 2019-20 campaign as a result. He returned to play in 2020 on a minor-league contract with the Maple Leafs before linking up with the Sens in 2021.

While he may not have much of an NHL future after showing little promise in his fourth-line minutes, Chartier has resumed his strong level of play in the minors and should continue to earn contracts from major league clubs. The pending UFA has been strong in limited action with the B-Sens this year, posting seven goals and 10 points in 12 games. Last season, he scored 20 goals in only 40 games.

Chartier will likely spend the rest of the season in the minors and will be eligible for Calder Cup Playoffs action with Belleville if they sneak in. They’re last place in the North Division but are only two points back of Laval for the fifth and final playoff berth with two games in hand. However, if injuries take a forward out of the mix, he could find his way back up to Ottawa for a game or two.

Sharks Sign Collin Graf To Entry-Level Contract

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3:21 p.m.: PuckPedia has the full details of Graf’s contract, which expires in 2026 and will make him a 10.2c RFA, meaning he’s ineligible to sign an offer sheet. The deal carries a $942K cap hit and breaks down as follows:

2023-24: $830K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $25K bonus for 5+ games played
2024-25/2025-26: $855K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $500K Schedule A performance bonus

11:57 a.m.: The San Jose Sharks have won the Collin Graf sweepstakes, signing the top free agent to his entry-level contract on Thursday per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link). Johnston adds that the deal begins immediately, opening the door for Graf to make his first NHL appearance before the year’s end. San Jose has eight games left in their season and sit confidently at the bottom of the standings, making now a great time to test out young players.

Graf earns a move to the NHL after a tremendous collegiate career. He kicked it off with one year at Union College, moving to D1 hockey straight out of the USPHL-NCDC – a rare and challenging jump to make. But he handled it in stride, scoring 22 points in 37 games as a freshman but missing the postseason. Perhaps inspired by their run to a regional championship, Graf decided to transfer to Qunnipiac in the summer of 2022. And to say he found a new layer to his game would be an understatement. Graf flourished under the guidance of legendary NCAA coach Rand Pecknold, exploding for 21 goals and 59 points in 41 games last season. He followed it up with an even higher scoring rate this season, netting 22 goals and 49 points in just 34 games. His career 1.44 points-per-game rate is the third-highest in Qunnipiac history, and the most any Cougar has scored since Chris Cerrella’s collegiate career ended in 2001.

Graf earns his keep on the back of a phenomenal shot, and fantastic awareness in the offensive zone. While not the most eloquent skater, he’s shown a great understanding of how to slide into the danger areas of the ice and exploit open space. The strong offensive toolset makes him a must-watch for defenders, often leaving teammates open and giving Graf a chance to use a passing ability that’s nearly as good as his shot. Keeping up with the tempo of play wasn’t always easy for Graf, and likely represents his biggest barrier in transitioning to the pro scene. But with an open role on a terrible team, it seems the sky is the limit for the red-hot Graf.

Injury Notes: Couturier, Hamonic, Oshie

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It has been revealed that Philadelphia Flyers captain Sean Couturier is facing a sprained shoulder, per NHL.com’s Kevin Kurz (Twitter link). Couturier seems to have dodged more serious injury and continues to carry the day-to-day injury designation given to him on Wednesday and is questionable for the team’s Friday night game.

Couturier has had an eventful season since being named Philadelphia’s first captain since Claude Giroux on February 14th. He’s since managed just three assists through 20 games, adding 11 penalty minutes and a -17. The cold streak has earned him two healthy scratches that he hasn’t yet vindicated – riding a six-game scoreless streak since returning to the lineup. Couturier managed 30 points in 41 games of the season but has since fallen apart. Hopefully a clean bill of health following this shoulder injury can bring with it a resurgence on the scoresheet.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Ottawa Senators are expected to be without defenseman Travis Hamonic on Thursday night due to a lower-body injury, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun (Twitter link). Hamonic has missed 16 of Ottawa’s last 17 games with this injury and continues to miss time even after being removed from injured reserve on March 19th. He’s played in just 48 games this season, recording six points, 40 penalty minutes, and a -10. He joins Thomas Chabot on the team’s sideline, with Tyler Kleven benefiting most from the pair’s absences.
  • T.J. Oshie missed the Washington Capitals practice on Thursday, instead seeing the team’s doctor for an upper-body injury. Head coach Spencer Carbery shared that the injury will hold Oshie out of Washington’s next two games, per Bailey Johnson of the Washington Post (Twitter link), as the Capitals face a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday. His next chance to return will come on Sunday, when Washington hosts the Ottawa Senators. Oshie has played in just 47 games this season, recording 11 goals and 19 points.

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