There are a few things that are assured of in this life. While Death and Taxes are the two biggest ones, there is a third that most hockey fans should remember. That NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will fight to the death and beyond to keep hockey in the state of Arizona.
Puck Prose
Tuesday night, the New York Post ran an article that said that the Arizona Coyotes had been sold to Bill Foley, the billionaire who started a rather impressive campaign to bring hockey to Las Vegas. While Gary Bettman has been very patient over all the boos and cat-calls he’s received during his tenure, don’t ever tell the man that his favorite desert boondoggle has been sold out from under him.
Granted, things are not going well between the city of Glendale and the Arizona (formerly Phoenix franchise). The Coyotes were granted a temporary restraining order in their efforts to prevent the dissolution of their lease agreement. The city of Glendale and their city council had voted to end the deal between the city and the team, leaving the future of a team (that has already cost the league over $400 million dollars) certainly up in the air.
More from Free Agency
- Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
- The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
- Boston Bruins add veteran middle six depth in James van Riemsdyk
- Bruins reinforce defense with Kevin Shattenkirk signing
- Boston Bruins sign Morgan Geekie to shore up center depth
On some level, it made sense. The West wouldn’t lose a team, hockey in the desert would still be happening (hopefully with less cash being thrown in the toilet), and it wouldn’t be a total loss for most of the parties involved (save the Coyotes fan base).
The NHL front office and the Arizona Coyotes got wind of this story and flatly denied the New York Post story.
Anthony LeBlanc (President, CEO, Co-owner, and alternate governor) fired back almost immediately. “The article in the Post is 100 percent false. No truth to it whatsoever. I’m not an unidentified source, I’m a principal, so I think I should know.”
Gary Bettman didn’t respond too kindly to the New York Post either.
Gary Bettman: "The Post was told the story was completely untrue. They ran it anyway. The story is garbage. Team is staying put."
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) July 1, 2015
Certainly none of this is helping the Coyotes. It’s certainly affecting who they can try to snag during free agency frenzy.
Coyotes GM Don Maloney said earlier that the franchise's ongoing legal battle w/Glendale "has chased a couple people away" in free agency.
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) July 1, 2015
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m seeing part of Gary Bettman’s argument.
Bettman (and the league’s owners) would not turn down their share of the half-billion dollar franchise fee. (Moving to Vegas means no money.) If all the magic and CPR in the world isn’t enough to save the Coyotes franchise, it would make more sense to move the team to an ‘old hockey’ city. Bettman would likely move them to Quebec City (or even Hartford, Connecticut) rather than move a struggling mess to a new market. Finally, any team that was going to make a move would hold out to the last possible second before announcing a move to another city. If Arizona mentioned they were moving in 2018, it would be impossible to sell tickets for the next two seasons.
It’s a pity that after a decade of losing money, the Coyotes franchise is still nothing but a distraction to the NHL front office and the league in general. Their fan base deserves better.