Phoenix Coyotes

With all the financial and legal problems going on in the desert, there hasn’t been too much to gloat about off the ice in Phoenix. But on the ice, it’s a time to look towards the future.

Canada had 8 teams about 14 years ago, however with nobody wanting to be the owners of 2 of the teams the Quebec Nordiques moved to Colorado and became the Avalanche and the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix (how'd that work out?)

This is a look at the Phoenix Coyotes forwards from this past season 2009-2010 and if they are on the team next year the role they will play and what is expected of them.

A jet in Arizona may be flying home to Canada after fourteen years. I don't expect a hurricane to spin north to Connecticut from Carolina. Nor should it.

With the recent news that the Phoenix Coyotes may move back to their original home in Winnipeg, some have speculated what it means for hockey fans in Hartford. Will the Whalers return to the Insurance Capital? Or the real question should they?

Quick answer...they shouldn't.

What exactly is going on in Glendale?  Is it really about the survival of one NHL team, or is it about a bigger picture issue that many NHL Hockey fans are familiar with.  If you are new to the NHL, then read on, and learn a bit about its recent history and its future.

Forgive me if I'm a little passionate about this absurd matter of hockey in the desert, but please, let me elaborate.

The Phoenix Coyotes are a team that have never turned a profit since their move from Winnipeg in 1996.

They are predicted to loose another $20 million this upcoming season.

They lost a reported $35 million during the 2008-09 season.

So then, why are they still in the desert?

Gary Bettman's deranged view of how sane, good, and economical hockey business works has gone beyond all comprehensible credit.

5,143.

That's roughly the number of days Winnipeg Manitoba has went without hockey since their beloved Jets were forced to move to Phoenix, Arizona following this loss , April 28, 1996 in the first round of the playoffs, of all places.

I'll admit it. Hockey is just not one of the sports I really follow.

That's not to say that I don't like it. The few times I have turned on a game, I have enjoyed it.

However, two things get in the way. One is that I don't know everything about the game like I do about baseball, basketball, and football. The other is that, as a fan, all my available sports time is all but taken. I follow the NFL, NBA, MLB, and college football.

I suppose it is better to be old and cunning than smart and talented.

48 hours after the Detroit Red Wings looked slow and beaten in a pitiful Game 6 performance, it was the Phoenix Coyotes who crumpled under the pressure of "win and go home."

They were the ones to made the big miscues.  Their normally staunch defense was the one slipping up, and the Wings jumped in to take advantage; a complete inverse of that bleak Sunday that now seems forever ago.

It's finally officially over.  Jerry Reinsdorf wins.  Ice Edge loses.

The NHL got what it wanted all along. 

No Jim Balsillie-owned team.  No Hamilton team.  No team even partly owned by Canadians.  No games in Saskatoon.  A team in Phoenix.

There was jubilant joy on the NHL website as Gary Bettman announced the Glendale Council decision on his way to Phoenix to see the Coyotes play Detroit.

Bettman also modestly said that he wouldn't put his name or any of the NHL owners on the Stanley Cup if the Coyotes won it.