Before I begin, let me tell some quick history. Before the Coyotes, there was a great mythical team called the Winnipeg Jets.
Then they ran into financial issues with player salaries the more the NHL kept expanding into the US. This caused them to be sold off to American businessmen, Steven Gluckstein and Richard Burke.
They and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman then decided that they could make an extra American dollar by moving the team to Phoenix and putting a slab of ice in the middle of the desert in order to coincide it with a population boost. But there was a major problem: appealing to an audience in the desert city.
First of all, a team that was originally from Canada was moved into an American city that was unfamiliar with and has no identification with the sport itself. It’s like long rumored NFL franchise moving to London, England; it’s just not going to work.
Second of all, the already local teams, like the Diamondbacks, are currently going through attendance issues. But if they were a winning team as the Penguins are to Pittsburgh, then the team could win over the locals.
If you look back to the glory years in Winnipeg, you’ll notice that the organization has made Playoff and Final appearances in the late eighties and early nineties. Now just look at the Coyotes and the best they’ve done was somehow making a Conference Finals appearance one year.
I’ve seen this team and was just appalled by the performance. It’s that bad. Most of the roster is just rookies they drafted this year or struggling players.
They didn’t even try the “Moneyball”, or Philly’s very own “Trust the Process” system. The organization even had to turn to Hockeys Greatest of all Time, Wayne Gretzky, for the position of the head coach, and guess what? That didn’t turn out so well.
All of this failure lead to the organization declaring bankruptcy in 2009. This also caused the team to lose $200 million since 2001, losing its owner and giving the ownership to the NHL itself, who have already been paying the Coyotes bills and debts for four years. All of this is because jolly old Gary Bettman will not admit that another expansion team effort has failed.
So the organization is in deep trouble unless they can get their act together. The only person to give sympathies to is Alternate Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has been with the team since 2009. He doesn’t deserve any of this and is actually the only good player on the team.
Larrson, my parents’ secret liquor stash is yours for the taking.
Based on the points you’ve made, you haven’t actually paid attention to what the franchise is going through. The only arguments this article makes are outdated and/or inaccurate. This is no attack on you – thank you for taking the time to write the article.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is the only good player (also notice the spelling). Then you haven’t heard the names Niklas Hjalmarsson or Derek Stepan before, not to mention Calder Trophy favorite (by national media) Clayton Keller.
Also, Gretzky ruined the Coyotes organization when he was here, not the other way around.