On Wednesday, it was reported that Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith formally asked the NHL to initiate the expansion process and bring a team to Salt Lake City. Since this came to be, there has been a lot of speculation that the Arizona Coyotes could be a team that moves to Salt Lake City due to their ongoing search for a new arena. Those rumors are extremely misleading. First off, the report specifically states that they are looking to initiate the expansion process. There is nothing in the initial report or release from the Smith Entertainment Group that even mentions the Coyotes. Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, has also been very clear on multiple occasions through this past year that he believes in Arizona’s market and has no intention to relocate any team which includes the Coyotes. “Nobody’s moving… We like where our franchises are,” Bettman said. [https://www.nhl.com/news/gary-bettman-talks-arenas-expansion-tournaments-on-espn-sportscenter] “We’re getting a lot of solicitations of interest -- places like Atlanta, Quebec City, Houston, Salt Lake City. It’s not something we’re focused on. We think the 32 teams we have now are in great places. We like where we are. I can’t ever say ‘never’ to anything. It’s ultimately [an NHL Board of Governors] decision. But we’re not in the middle of, or interested in starting, at least right now, an expansion process.” The deadline that the Coyotes and NHL have agreed upon also is a topic that has been misunderstood. The notion that there is a hard deadline for the Coyotes to find an arena by the All-Star break is simply not true. “First of all based on my own reporting, my understanding is Salt Lake is viewed as an expansion site, not a relocation site,” PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan said. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Cyt0C0VKWeU?si=7GI80PpSnfs3ws_W] “Secondly, this notion that there is a deadline the Coyotes have to announce their plans by the All-Star break, does not jibe with anything I have heard thus far. “Commissioner Garry Bettman has said himself that the NHL needs an answer by the end of quarter one which is the end of March or maybe even the end of the regular season. There may be something that comes out over the All-Star break or right at the tail end of it, but my understanding is not a hard deadline from the NHL right now.” Fans and other media pundits have been quick to include the Coyotes in constant relocation rumors without any sort of concrete evidence. It’s extremely misleading and unfair to include hockey fans in Arizona to a report that has nothing to do with them. There has been a spread of false information about the Coyotes’ search for a new arena that needs to stop. 240122_Tourigny_Postgame Salt Lake City may very well be in the NHL as an expansion team in the near future, but until proven otherwise the Coyotes are playing in Arizona and are continuing to search for a permanent home in the Valley.
