As part of a series examining places that could have an expansion NHL team down the road, Adam Proteau shifts focus to why Phoenix and Arizona could return.

THN.com’s new series on NHL expansion continues today with a new look at one of the cities that could be host to the 33rd or 34th franchise in hockey’s top league. 

This writer is on record as believing expansion is likely to happen sometime in the next few years. In this series, we’re examining the cities that are candidates to wind up with a new team and exploring how compelling their cases are to secure a new franchise.

On Thursday, we began the expansion evaluation process with a look at the city we believe is one of the favorites to get a new team – Houston. Today, we’re moving on to another American city that could be near the top of the list for expansion – Phoenix, Ariz.

PHOENIX

Population, Phoenix Proper: 1,608,139 (as of 2020 census) 

Population, Greater Phoenix Area: 4,851,102 (as of 2020 census)

The greater Phoenix area is the 11th-most populous American Metropolitan area and third-most populous among areas without an NHL team. Phoenix is home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.

TV Market Rating: Per ustvdb.com, Phoenix is the 11th-largest media market in the U.S., with 2,138,870 TV households.

Arena: The reason the Arizona Coyotes had its NHL franchise made inactive this year is because they had nowhere else in the state to play but 4,600-seat Mullett Arena, and multiple pursuits of a new arena failed. Now-former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo had been pursuing a plot of land on which to build a new rink and entertainment district in Phoenix, but that opportunity fell through in June. They previously lost a referendum in nearby Tempe for a new arena and district in 2023.

Tellingly, the NHL offered Meruelo a ramp to get back into the league as an expansion team if there was a new arena fully built in the next five years. After the roadblock in June, Meruelo relinquished the rights to the franchise. 

The NHL wouldn’t have made that stipulation public knowledge if it wasn’t comfortable essentially guaranteeing a 33rd team in the future. But it’s going to take a major investment – potentially with no public funds attached to it – to construct a state-of-the-art building that will attract team investors, fans and players. The challenge for Phoenix is clear, and it’s really all about the rink.

Hockey History: Arizona hosted an NHL team for 28 years after bringing in the relocated Winnipeg Jets organization in 1996. One of the Coyotes organization’s biggest problems was on-ice success, with only nine playoff appearances – and just three post-season series victories – to their credit.

As a result of that and a revolving door of owners, attendance was a problem, as was keeping the team in one particular part of Arizona. The Coyotes played in three different rinks in their Arizona existence – at the America West Arena in Phoenix proper, the then-named Gila River Arena in Glendale and, finally, at the Mullett Arena in Tempe. Mullett Arena was particularly unfit to serve as an NHL rink for the long term, even if the team attempted to sell it as an intimate sports experience for NHL fans.

Why Phoenix Is Worth Considering

It probably irks some hockey fans to no end that, less than one year after losing their team, the Phoenix area is in the conversation to be given an expansion franchise. But as noted above, the NHL already gave away the game when they announced Meruelo’s potential path back into the league as an expansion team in the next five years.

It’s no secret NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has fought for decades for Phoenix to be one of his league’s teams, and nothing that’s happened in the past year has changed Bettman’s perspective on that front. The size of the city, the place it has in the U.S. sports scene and the potential for growing the game in Phoenix all adds up to a picture that Bettman buys into. 

While he ultimately couldn’t reasonably prevent the Coyotes from moving hockey operations to Salt Lake City, Bettman is going to continue keeping Phoenix on his radar.

Phoenix politicians and civic planners are going to be under the gun to come up with a solution that satisfies the NHL and get their team back, but at the moment, there doesn't appear to be a clear front-runner pushing to purchase a team (and rink) and lock up an expansion team between now and 2029. That said, it’s clear the league wants to return to Arizona. If there is a proposal that assures an NHL-caliber rink becomes a reality with stable ownership that can make the team competitive, it shouldn’t be long after that when Bettman and the league returns to Phoenix.