Is It Too Late For The Arizona Coyotes?

The Arizona Coyotes have been a franchise that has consistently struggled on and off the ice since 1996. The former Winnipeg franchise has been at the bottom in attendance since 2011 and has not had any sustained playoff success. Now they no longer have a home and are reportedly looking at a temporary stadium with a maximum capacity of 5000 people. Hockey has been in the desert for 26 years; at what point do NHL owners cut their losses?

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has made it very clear that he has zero intention of moving the Coyotes despite the lack of both a temporary and permanent home. The current plan is wildly reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and others is to play in the Arizona State University’s new hockey rink for three to four years. This stadium has a capacity of 5000 people with 3200 seats. This option that the Coyotes have seemingly gone with is bewildering. Their ticket prices are already some of the lowest in the league. How is this the only option? This is even without an accepted proposal for a permanent home in Tempe. Housing issues aside, would a stadium in Tempe solve the problems that landed the Coyotes in this situation?

Their attendance was never that strong, even while the Coyotes were at their best. During the 2011-12 season, the Coyotes won the division for the first time in franchise history but still placed dead last in attendance. They even won their first and second playoff series. Yet the draw for crowds in the lock-out shortened season wasn’t enough to get them higher than 29th in the league in attendance capacity percentage and average attendance. The Coyotes haven’t been higher than 27th in the league in either category and have never averaged 15000 people in attendance for games that are very cheap compared to the rest of the league. 

Source: https://www.espn.com/nhl/attendance

Improving the on-ice product would do wonders for attendance, but the lack of notable success outside of the 2012 season speaks volumes. It is hard enough to cheer for a team at the bottom of the league, but a single playoff appearance in 10 years does not help your franchise keep any fans. Let alone the only appearance was courtesy of the expanded bracket due to Covid-19.

It’s not like they never tried to go for a run. The acquisitions of Taylor Hall and Phil Kessel seemingly showed that Arizona wanted to make a run at the playoffs in 2019, but they never had the pieces to help those star players find the same level of success they did with other teams. 

Especially with the Coyotes being very low in the standings every year, it is hard to encourage free agents to sign without overpaying. It will be even harder to attract talent with a 5000 seat stadium. Signings like Mike Smith and Alex Goligoski, Ed Jovanovski, and Shane Doan for 5-year contracts at the age of 30 were likely not the best use of their cap space, which hindered their ability to make moves down the road when they weren’t as competitive. 

Due to their pretty mediocre drafting, from 2009 to 2019, the Coyotes only have 4 of their 14 first-round draft picks in their active roster. In their history, they traded their only top-three picks Kyle Turris and Dylan Strome after only three seasons. Where they would both become mainstays in the NHL. The lack of success with their draft is a core reason they struggle to produce a competitive team.

The current setup simply doesn’t work. Hockey in the desert has sadly failed, and it is going to be an uphill battle to attract fans and talent with the new stadium and what is likely going to be the deepest rebuild this organization has gone through. The situation around Arizona should be fixable, but they haven’t shown any signs that there should be a future in the desert. At what point does the NHL finally call it quits?