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Coyotes : Salt Lake City and Sacramento ahead of Quebec City

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Coyotes : Salt Lake City and Sacramento ahead of Quebec City

The Arizona Coyotes are at a crossroads. Will the club find a way to stay in Arizona? It’s hard to say at the moment, anyway.

But we know it’s not going well.

In fact, right now, for the Coyotes to stay in Arizona, the Suns (NBA) would practically have to take them over and bring them to their downtown arena.

Darren Dreger tweeted about the possibility this morning.

That said, would the Suns, who have a brand-new arena, agree to renovate STILL their facilities to host an NHL team? Doesn’t mean they’d want to.

Nor do we know if the owner is interested in buying the club.

If the Coyotes don’t stay in Arizona long-term, we’ll need a plan. I have a feeling that the university arena will be back in 2023-2024, so we’ll have to examine every possible plan.

But staying in Arizona for the long term is more than difficult.

The question of the club’s future was addressed by Elliotte Friedman in his podcast this morning. And according to him, four cities are among the favorites to host the Coyotes in the event of a move.

According to him, Houston, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Kansas City are the most logical possibilities.

We shouldn’t be surprised by Houston – even if it’s not 100% with the potential owner – or Kansas City, even if it’s not exactly a big city.

But Salt Lake City is questionable. We know that Ryan Smith (owner of the Utah Jazz) is working on the case, but is it really a big market that could be quite interesting from a field hockey point of view?

What about Sacramento? Does the NHL need a fourth team in California? Is the market big enough to support a team on the heels of the San Jose Sharks?

The questions are obvious, to say the least.

The fact that Quebec City is out of the picture is not surprising. After all, as we know, it’s not currently the NHL’s priority – quite the contrary.

The fact that Quebec City is in the East and that the other cities are on the other side of the continent, according to Elliotte Friedman, is a basic brake on the Coyotes’ (potential) relocation project.

Is it me or… the Blue Jackets can, at worst, return to the West? Gary wouldn’t put so much effort into the Nordiques’ return, but every problem has its solution.

Anyway, don’t hold your breath.


In a gust

– We’re celebrating with snow.

– Well done.

– We’re there.

– Réjean Tremblay has a lot of respect for Patrick Roy. [BPM Sports]

– Well done.

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