Do I have a source for any of them? Billionaire Alex Meruelo agreed to become majority owner of the Coyotes less than 2 1/2 months before Matthews signed his deal and in time for the acquisition to be approved by the NHL board of governors 12 days before Matthews would have become an RFA. The Coyotes are now spending to the cap max on playing players (with a big chunk of that spending being acquired after July 1), not spending to the minimum by picking up LTIRs and retired player cap hits. They are also top-8 in the NHL right now after missing the playoffs for 7 years in a row or something.
If you need a link to support the idea that Bettman's dream would be for the state's first home grown star to play for Coyotes I can't help you because that is about as basic as it gets and would justify all of the moves Bettman made to get and keep the team there in the first place and well as his efforts to ensure that the team had stable and wealthy ownership after Barroway had run into financial problems in 2015.
As for Matthews hating Babcock and would have willingly signed a OS....again, are we being serious? Everyone knows that Matthews hates Babcock. Everyone knows how much Matthews likes money. Everyone knows that Matthews has no ties to Toronto and loves Arizona. Everyone knows that Toronto management had worries about an OS for Matthews.