Phoenix Coyotes on the move? NHL may soon consider relocation
With all this sudden Jarome Iginla chatter, most hockey fans spent the majority of Wednesday evening talking about a player that probably should have been moved last year, at the very least. But somewhat overshadowed in the rumoured end to the Iggy Derby was Darren Dreger's update regarding a team that probably should have been moved last year: the Phoenix Coyotes.
According to Dreger, the NHL may be running out of patience in Phoenix. After years of doing their best to keep the team in Glendale, the league could make a decision on relocating the franchise in advance of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"It's clear time [is] running out and relocation must be considered," Dreger tweeted.
The TSN analyst listed Quebec City, Seattle and Kansas City among relocation sites, none of them new options to puckheads.
But at this point, I think hockey fans know not to react too quickly to any report about the Phoenix Coyotes, and this one is no different. Don't think that's the end of the Coyotes as we know them just yet.
[Also: Jarome Iginla's trade to Penguins an improbable move in today's NHL]
"Current focus remains on selling the Coyotes to ownership in Glendale," Bill Daly told Yahoo!'s Nick Cotsonika. "We haven't spent much time on anything else."
Adding to that, John Shannon passed on new information Wednesday night regarding another comeback by Ice Edge. According to Shannon, Ice Edge CEO is part of a new group that he leads along with George Gosbee, head of AltaCorp Capital and Vice Chair of AIMCo, a $70 Billion investment Fund. "Word is they are finalizing a proposal with NHL," Shannon said.
Basically, nothing is set in stone at all, which means there really isn't anything new here. It's seemed like just about anything could happen in the Glendale ownership kerfuffle for years, and now it just seems slightly more like that.
Still, if the Coyotes do move, where they go could have a big impact on another recent hot topic: realignment. The Coyotes were supposed to be part of the Westernmost grouping in the new setup. A move to Seattle would be ideal from this perspective, since they're even further West than Phoenix. There's little headache there.
But a move from Phoenix to, say, Quebec City, which Dreger said was the frontrunner, throws the conferences as the Board of Governors approved them into disarray. Somehow, I suspect Quebec City won't so into that.
Would Kansas City?
They'd probably be more comfortable in the proposed Conference B, with midwestern teams like the Minnesota Wild, who are almost a straight shot north of them. But if the Coyotes go East, someone is going to have to move West, and as we've seen, pretty much no one wants to move West.
Stay tuned on this one.
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