Thoughts on the Coyotes Arena issues?

[Cooper09]

Yes, I am a Coyotes fan, but I want to hear others thoughts on the matter. Will this impact prospects like Cooley? Or will it get resolved soon?

Arizona Coyotes Arena Dilemma Ends With a No Vote

Arizona Coyotes Arena, goes to the Tempe residents, ballots come back not in favor of the Coyotes, ending in a no vote.

lastwordonsports.com

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[Stewie Griffin]

There's the extremely small chance a prospect like Cooley could ride out college for another 3 years and then go FA route but I doubt it. Most prospects won't have enough of a say, and others will sign because of the guaranteed chance of playing in the NHL/getting NHL money.

It will most likely effect the FA they sign, but that's not prospect talk.

 

[SimGrindcore]

They should have moved a while ago. They played 3 arenas in the Phoenix area in 27 years:
- America West Arena in Phoenix from 1996 to 2004
- Gila River Arena in Glendale from 2004 to 2022
- Mullett Area in Tempe now

No municipal administration wants them. Playing in a 5,000 capacity arena is a sad sad joke.

If Winnipeg can have a 2nd chance to manage a NHL team, Quebec City can. They already have a state of the art NHL arena and the are able to sold it out for their CHL team.

 

[Bonin21]

If Cooley doesn't leave school this month, you 100% put that on the arena situation and not wanting to play in an arena half the size of his college team's. If he were drafted by any other franchise he'd already be gone.

He will be in the NHL in 2024-25, no matter where (AZ, Salt Lake, Houston). The question mark is for next season.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Without knowing Cooley's thoughts on the matter, I would say it'd not shock me if Cooley decides he can wait and stay another year in College then sign after the season is over burning an ELC year once things are more certain. If he were to decide that then there's always a risk he might decide to wait another year, and then go UFA at which point you have to trade him to a team he'd be willing to sign with before that happens.

It's on the table imo for Cooley to not sign in ARZ, especially if Arizona this offseason basically strips its team to the bone (trade away Schmaltz, Keller anyone making real money for futures and adds guys like Voracek/Weber/Little to hit cap floor).

Edit: I was confused, it's 4 years not 3 years from the draft for college players to go UFA, making this scenario much less likely.

 

[Rob Brown]

If Cooley doesn't leave school this month, you 100% put that on the arena situation and not wanting to play in an arena half the size of his college team's. If he were drafted by any other franchise he'd already be gone.

He will be in the NHL in 2024-25, no matter where (AZ, Salt Lake, Houston). The question mark is for next season.

To me it's also just a young kid wanting to know where he is going to live and set up his life. He could commit to the Coyotes and sign tomorrow, but after one season he could end up in a city he doesn't want to live in. It's a shitty situation.

 

[Bonin21]

To me it's also just a young kid wanting to know where he is going to live and set up his life. He could commit to the Coyotes and sign tomorrow, but after one season he could end up in a city he doesn't want to live in. It's a shitty situation.

Any of those places would be nice to live in, to be fair.

Without knowing Cooley's thoughts on the matter, I would say it'd not shock me if Cooley decides he can wait and stay another year in College then sign after the season is over burning an ELC year once things are more certain. If he were to decide that then there's always a risk he might decide to wait another year, and then go UFA at which point you have to trade him to a team he'd be willing to sign with before that happens.

He would need to play three more college seasons to be a free agent. That is not going to happen.

 

[Rob Brown]

Any of those places would be nice to live in, to be fair.

Sure, and you'd think he'd be fine playing in any of the rumoured options (Houston, Salt Lake City etc.), but it's still a big uncertainty for him. Perhaps he just goes back another year and waits for things to look a bit more definitive.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

move the team to SLC or Houston

sorry yotes fans but unfortunately its not a hockey market

 

[gifted88]

I thought I had heard or read somewhere the Coyotes GM saying they want players who want to be there in Arizona. Can't find the quote currently though...
But I would assume during their interview Cooley said all the right things about wanting to be in Arizona.

 

[GindyDraws]

I'm more interested now in what you do with Tucson. The Coyotes own the Roadrunners but if the team is sold, they obviously gotta go. But, the AHL is no longer exciting a place for relocation drama.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

I'm more interested now in what you do with Tucson. The Coyotes own the Roadrunners but if the team is sold, they obviously gotta go. But, the AHL is no longer exciting a place for relocation drama.

No suspense. The team will move in general indifference. No drama.

 

[bigdog16]

To me it's also just a young kid wanting to know where he is going to live and set up his life. He could commit to the Coyotes and sign tomorrow, but after one season he could end up in a city he doesn't want to live in. It's a shitty situation.

It would be ill advised for him to go back to school. He would be losing out on a million bucks and he is screwed if he was to ever get hurt playing NCAA.

Also, nobody in the NHL is able to "set up their lives". Anyone could get traded at any time.

 

[Brodeur]

Cooley in particular wouldn't necessarily delay his RFA status if he returned for his sophomore year and signed his ELC in April 2024. The only downside would be that he'd be a 10.2(c) RFA after the ELC (no arb rights and wouldn't be offer sheet eligible), so he would have a little less negotiation leverage.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cooley opted for another shot at WJC Gold + National Title after getting close last season. Rushing in to sign with a club that's not expected to be competitive this year might not be as appealing.

It would be ill advised for him to go back to school. He would be losing out on a million bucks and he is screwed if he was to ever get hurt playing NCAA.

Also, nobody in the NHL is able to "set up their lives". Anyone could get traded at any time.

That feels more like an NFL mentality where an injury could completely derail somebody's career.

I'm trying to think of a drafted NCAA prospect who had a detrimental injury when they had the option of turning pro. Just recently Owen Power, Kent Johnson, Matt Beniers, and Luke Hughes went back for their sophomore years at Michigan.

On the flip side, Alex Turcotte left Wisconsin after his freshman year and has had a litany of injuries since turning pro. Unfortunately due to the ELC slide rule, Turcotte still has one more year remaining on his ELC. Meanwhile his NTDP teammates like Matt Boldy, Cole Caufield, and Cam York are going to cash in this summer (Boldy already got his extension). Boldy/Caufield/York went back for their sophomore years as well.

Arguably Turcotte cost himself money by turning pro early.

 

[Bonin21]

Same for Mittelstadt

 

[StreetHawk]

Yes, I am a Coyotes fan, but I want to hear others thoughts on the matter. Will this impact prospects like Cooley? Or will it get resolved soon?

Arizona Coyotes Arena Dilemma Ends With a No Vote

Arizona Coyotes Arena, goes to the Tempe residents, ballots come back not in favor of the Coyotes, ending in a no vote.

lastwordonsports.com

Battling an uphill climb since day 1. Needed to be an expansion team not a relocation team.

Why?
1) Available arena was not suitable for nhl.
2) And also the nba team controlled the arena revenue.
3) And suns didn’t own any of the coyotes

So based on that needed to get their own arena. Better chance of success via expansion in the late 90’s when an arena was a must for any team applying.

We’re losing too much money while at suns arena. And then add on that no ownership group ever had the true desire and or money to build the coyotes an arena. A couple of people like Ellman were looking at real estate deals for themselves rather than getting an arena that made sense for the team.

Should AZ move the nhl will have a lot of damage control and stains to clean up from their 3 decades in AZ if they ever try to get back to AZ.

This should not draft out too long. But who knows.

 

[SoupNazi]

Doesn't belong on the prospects board. Use one of the existing threads on NHL talk.