Relatively lost in the shuffle of Wednesday night's trade drama was the big news coming out regarding the Phoenix Coyotes. Specifically, that the league is finally at the point of considering relocation.
By now, you should know the team has been on the market for more than three years and has yet to land a buyer. There have been guys who have come and gone, but nobody ever finished a deal. So that led to the report that the NHL will make a decision around the start of the playoffs regarding possible relocation. After all, they seemed to have exhausted their options in the desert.
But with the franchise now on life support, we could have yet another potential buyer entering the picture -- as in one who wants to keep the team in Arizona. From Craig Morgan of Fox Sports Arizona:
A source familiar with the situation confirmed to FOX Sports Arizona late Wednesday that AltaCorp Capital chairman and CEO George Gosbee is working with long-involved suitor Anthony LeBlanc on a proposal that will be presented to the NHL shortly. The two are part of what the source believes is the lead group in the attempt to purchase the long-rudderless franchise.
...
According to the source, Gosbee and LeBlanc are working on a deal that would keep the Coyotes in Glendale, and although it is expected that any group purchasing the team would seek an out clause to relocate the team if it cannot remedy the franchise's long-standing financial issues, the source said "that hasn't been discussed" to this point.
Well, here we go again.
My first question is: where has Gosbee been all along? Why did we have to wait three and a half years for him to appear as somebody who wants to keep the team in Glendale? Why did it take until the franchise was on its death bed? It's not as if the Coyotes' availability on the market is a new development.
Fact of the matter is, if this new potential suitor group could get a deal done and keep the team where it is, the fans in the desert couldn't care less so long as it means the team doesn't move.
It really is amazing to me that it has come to this. The NHL has given the area so many chances, it's amazing. Atlanta, on the other hand, was abandoned faster than Evander Kane can get up the ice on a breakaway. However, it shows how much the NHL is committed to hockey working in Arizona.
You figure that a deal from Gosbee and LeBlanc will have to come together very quickly. The NHL has pretty much said the door is now open. And with the way they have been waiting around in places like Quebec City, I don't think the NHL is going to be so fast to pull back on this decision to consider relocation.
Hypothesizing on my end, Quebec City certainly has to be the favorite at this point. It has potential ownership, it has an arena already in the works and a suitable arena in the meantime to host a team. Kansas City has an arena, but the lack of clear ownership seems to be an issue. In Seattle, there is still no guarantee if there will be an arena as the situation with the NBA's Sacramento Kings/Seattle Sonics drags on. However, a resolution should come there before the Stanley Cup playoffs start. And if Seattle does get an NBA team and thus a new arena, Seattle could very well hop to the top of potential relocation cities.
That's if the Coyotes relocate at all.
All I know -- and can hope -- is that we should have a resolution within the next few weeks. Then again, that would be underestimating the staying power of this story.
If the franchise stays in Arizona, they should go ahead and rename them the cockroaches because they just keep surviving.
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