The NHL is relocating the Coyotes to Utah and hockey fans have such mixed feelings
It’s official: The Arizona Coyotes are moving to Utah ahead of the 2024-25 season.
After a week-plus of speculation, the NHL announced on Thursday that the Board of Governors approved the establishment of a franchise in Utah, owned and controlled by the Smith Entertainment Group. According to the deal, the Coyotes’ franchise will transfer “the totality of its existing hockey assets – including its full Reserve List, roster of Players and draft picks and its Hockey Operations Department – to the Utah franchise.”
As for hockey in Arizona, the Board of Governors approved a plan that has made the franchise “inactive, with a right to reactivate if owner Alex Meruelo has fully constructed a new, state-of-the-art facility appropriate for an NHL team within five years.”
Here’s how the NHL announced the relocation on Twitter.
There’s still a lot to sort out with the Utah franchise and it seems that even the franchise’s new name might not come until its second season — though we do have some suggestions!
New franchise owner Ryan Smith also expressed his excitement about the Utah relocation on Twitter.
While this is certainly exciting news for Utah fans, Arizona and its fans have no doubt deserved better here. Thanks to rocky ownership, the Coyotes had no other options but to move into a college arena to play professional hockey games, an untenable situation for the NHL. Here’s hoping hockey returns to the desert soon with a better management team in place.