There is a Sliding doors scenario, where the NHL simply leaves Jim Balsillie buys Arizona coyotes and relocating them to Hamilton, Ontario, more than a decade ago. Would it have worked? Hard to know. The Balsillie BlackBerry was withdrawn shortly after the proposed date of purchase and could have caused a lot of problems north of the border, as there have been in Arizona. No doubt the Leafs should have been appeased by a team moving just 42 miles away. And perhaps having the smallest area of the league, such as the Copps Coliseum (now FirstOntario Center), would have led to more complications.
Still, the NHL would have had a pocket owner (at the time) in a fervent hockey market. And none of it could have been worse than they have been, are currently and will continue to be Arizona coyotes.
In the last installment of “While the coyotes are burning,” Katie Strang of The Athletic delves into the latest group of clown-laden owners who promised the NHL that they could save the Yotes once and for all, but that they have proven to be another clown in the constant parade of charlatans and ponds. who have acquired the franchise. This time it’s Alex Meruelo and the uber clods who came with him. It would be thought that the NHL might have noticed that the The NBA didn’t think he was capable of buying the Atlanta Hawks, thanks to finances that didn’t line up. But the NHL is always happy to pick up trash from the NBA. That’s how they got Gary Bettman, after all.
As always, it’s a masterpiece by Strang, but many of them are things you’ve probably read about someone sporting before. An owner who doesn’t have as much money as he said in the league who accepted him as a buyer / owner. A violent abuse of employees, justified for him and his colleagues to have a lot of money, just not as much as he wants the world to believe. Nickel and attenuation to everyone in sight to give the appearance of streamlining, but in fact it has nothing in its pocket, including the best means to wait for people for less money. Puzzling hiring and internal organization. Employees of the last group of landlords feel totally helpless and those who are no longer there have to go to court to get money owed to them.
Oh, and to complete the set, because it wouldn’t be without him, the owner’s boy fucking everything in an apartment of which he knows nothing. You could probably write it down a lot from memory, and you’ve probably seen it all before. All owners should be considered a Bob Nutting until they prove they are not.
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Undoubtedly, the whole piece is worth it, if only to clearly illustrate how desperate the NHL has been to keep the coyotes in Arizona from handing over the keys to almost any idiot who raises his hand. Includes jackasses who tried to intimidate Strang, one of the most experienced and respected hockey writers in all circles, unlike these nincompoops.
Alex Meruelo is the Coyotes ’fourth owner since the league snatched control of Balsillie’s team and anchored the team in the desert. It has been clear for another decade that the team will not be working with its area in Glendale, if it can work in the market, but no new arena plans have come out of the planning phase. It seemed like a second, as one might arise in Tempe, but then the state of Arizona withdrew from its share of the deal. With the article detailing how Meruelo’s group has tried to harden several vendors on what is owed to them, how they will find the money needed to build a new stage in a nicer area is a laughing matter.
Meruelo has not been at the helm for so long, but the article does nothing to show how he would pull the Yotes out of this spiral. They have been at the bottom of the league in presence, revenue and standings for so long that they have become the very definition of “entrenched”. Meruelo also does not come out of anything resembling a visionary.
At some point, the NHL has to admit that the coyotes have been manipulated so much that they have now been broken without repair. This is an organization that just last year suffered the fraud of a GM jumping ship in such a way that the league he banned it for a year, drafted an unrepentant racist they then had waive rights on thanks to the reaction, and now, that story is broken. And all of this is the same for the course for an organization that spent years fighting with the same city lies in their massive losses.
The NHL wrapped up a possible relocation site by granting an expansion team to Seattle. And in a post-pandemic world, assuming we never get to that world, moving a sports franchise might be nearly impossible. Still, you should think Quebec City would still be more than willing to fill its shiny arena every night with an NHL team. Portland and Kansas City still have their buildings. How could any of them be worse than that?
Coyotes cannot be saved. The NHL and several dimwits have spent nearly 15 years trying to prove it. When is the time to declare “victory” and move on?
Update: The coyotes have issued a statement and are almost as ballooned as one might imagine that the organization portrayed in Strang’s article would reach:
Again, to reiterate, Strang is one of the most respected writers in the business. As he stated in the article, the coyotes and the league had a chance to respond to everything there was, and they passed. Attacking Strang’s integrity after the fact is the height of amateur idiocy. Press all the “It ‘It is the fault of the previous man, “” Hhere we are doing a favor to the community “and” Ddon’t you know this guy is already rich? “Only bright things.