Phoenix Coyotes Returning to Winnipeg

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Fourteen years after the NHL broke the hearts of every resident of Winnipeg, Manitoba news has broke that Winnipeg might, in fact, collect a second shot at the NHL.

On May 22, 2010 news broke that if the trouble Phoenix Coyotes could not find an owner by the end of the year that the team would be sold and relocated to Winnipeg-based True North Sports and Entertainment.

Lost Love

It was crushing in 1996 when the Winnipeg Jets played their final game in the storied Winnipeg Arena. A playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings, the game was a sellout highlighted by Winnipeg’s signature “White Out” – every fan in the stands wearing white. It was a sight to see with an amazing amount of emotion.

The Winnipeg Jets landed in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, to become the Phoenix Coyotes. Many derided the move from Winnipeg — known for it’s long, snowy winters — to Phoenix, a city better known for it’s year-round warmth than high hasten ice sports.

The NHL selected Phoenix in order to complete Gary Bettman’s bold vision to expand the game of hockey into non-traditional markets. To that point similar locations of the Minneapolis-based Minnesota North Stars to Dallas, Texas and expansions to Anaheim, San Jose, Tampa and Sunrise had produced mixed results.

The Winnipeg Jets had boasted many superstar players during their early-90’s rebuilding period. Notably, superstar forwards Teemu Selanne, Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhamnov created a high speed playing style and a renewed contender. Unfortunately, most of the star players were forced to be traded due to the weak Canadian dollar before the move to Phoenix was even made.

Early Success

The initial move to Phoenix was met with surprising success. The team made the playoffs nearly every year thanks to a solid core of good players, while transplanted Canadians filled the arena to re-live their Northern routes.

It was not long, though, before the team began to struggle. Not surprisingly, once the novelty of hockey in the desert wore off spectators began to look elsewhere for entertainment. Likewise, financial woes began to destroy the team, leading to trades that saw stars players like Keith Tkachuk, Teppo Numminen and Nikolai Khabibulin leave the Phoenix Coyotes.

New Ownership

Eventually new ownership was found from an unexpected source: NHL legend Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky and his investment group purchased the team in the hope of a turnaround, even installing Gretzky as head coach.

For as good as he was as a player, Gretzky was just as bad as a coach. The team lost all coherence as a string of disappointing seasons followed. Attempts to sign star players to turn the team around failed, notably with former league MVP Brett Hull who retired after playing only five games with the Coyotes.

Bankruptcy

The Phoenix Coyotes had bled money for most of their existence in Glendale, losing up to $40 million a season at one point. In December of 2008 reports broke that the Coyotes were being supported financially by the NHL.

Six months later, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes declared the team bankrupt with the intention of selling the Coyotes to Research In Motion CEO Jim Balsillie. Balsillie intended to purchase the team in order to relocate them to Hamilton, Ontario.

The move caught both fans and the NHL off guard, as by asking for assistance from the NHL Moyes was no longer capable of putting the Coyotes into bankruptcy. Having not gained approval to join the NHL as an owner, Balsillie was deemed underhanded by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Legal Wrangling

The battle quickly moved to court, as the NHL controlled the team and believed it had the accurate to sell the Coyotes to an owner of their choosing. Jerry Moyes, on the other hand, supported Balsillie’s bid despite the fact that it was in direct violation of the NHL’s rules.

Several prospective owners came forward, but only those with the intention of keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix were taken seriously. The most high profile was Jerry Reinsdorf, whose Ice Edge Holdings company put forth an early bid, although they failed to form a proposal for the bankruptcy proceedings.

Eventually, a Phoenix court ruled that Jerry Moyes and Jim Balsillie could not manufacture a deal that violated the rules of the NHL, while the NHL’s own bid for the team was also rejected for not covering debtors. The NHL eventually build together a proposal that was favorite, thereby gaining ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Finding an Owner

As time had run out, the NHL was forced to control the Coyotes over the course of the 2009-10 NHL season. Ice Edge Holdings was once again lined up as a potential owner, this time dealing directly with the NHL.

By May 2010 the deal had fallen through, however. Ice Edge expected Glendale to cover losses by the team, at least temporarily, with tax payer money. At this point, rumors began to circulate that the NHL had a contingency concept in place with True North Sports and Entertainment.

Hope Renewed

The NHL refused to confirm any of the rumors, although safe sources stated that a deal was in place in principle to return the Coyotes franchise back to Winnipeg if an ownership group in Arizona could not be found. The city of Glendale eventually voted in favor of covering the Coyotes losses, up to $25 million, over the 2010-11 NHL season to give the NHL more time to find a local owner.

With Ice Edge Holdings seemingly out of the picture, few groups have approach forward with intentions in keeping the NHL in Arizona. Not helping matters is a rabid hockey market in Winnipeg begging for the return of what is rightfully theirs.

The NHL is finally beginning to run out of time on their hockey-in-the-desert experiment. A deadline was station on May 22, 2010 that if no willing buyer was found to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona by the end of 2010, than the Just North deal would be sealed and the Coyotes would return to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

True North Strong and Free

It has been a long fourteen years for citizens of Winnipeg. The minor league Manitoba Moose have served as the primary source of hockey for one of the most natural hockey markets on the face of the planet. The financial troubles that plagued the Jets during the early-90’s should not pose a predicament this time around as the Canadian dollar has remained fairly accurate with the American greenback for quite some time and the NHL’s salary cap has provided parity for smaller market teams.

Supporters have also emerged from reputable sources. Former NHL coach and well-known hockey analyst Don Cherry has stated that he would like to become an investor should a team return to Winnipeg, while Jim Balsillie has gone on recount saying that he would be the first person in line to buy tickets should Canada be granted a seventh NHL franchise.

The NHL southern experiment has fairly miserably, with only teams in Anaheim, Dallas, Tampa and Raleigh meeting any kind of success. Improved parity between NHL franchises over the last decade and a half has seen tremendous results, especially for smaller market Canadian teams.

The Manitoba Moose, a minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, has played to great success in Winnipeg’s MTS Centre, selling out the 15,200 seat arena despite it’s minor league place.

Winnipeg is the kind of city designed for a hockey team. Nearly every kid grows up playing shinny with their friends, and the level of devotion shows in the level of talent coming out of the city in the likes of Jonathan Toews, Travis Zajac and Cam Barker, among others. Should an NHL team return to Winnipeg, Manitoba it might just be the smartest move the NHL has made in quite some time.

Sources

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/True-North-a-bona-fide-owner-waiting-for-Coyotes-94666154.html
http://www.tsn.ca
http://www.azcentral.com/articles/2009/06/15/20090615coyotesnosale.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jLF92I7lewixUWAgsf3YsPo9V5NgD9FL3RH81