Utah Something Certainly the Coyotes were mismanaged, but the send off leaves a sour taste

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With all the fanfare of a street sweeper running down the street, the Arizona Coyotes’ franchise was ended on Thursday.

Still no official announcement from the league, board of governors, or the guy pushing the broom down the street.

On Wednesday night, the Coyotes finished their franchise’s history in Arizona with a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

Fans, players, and front office staff collected on the ice in Tempe and waved goodbye to the audience in the arena.

That was it.

No thanks, it’s been real, no ‘don’t let the door hit ya on the way out’. Nothing.

Instead, Ryan Smith, the owner of a franchise to ice in the 2024-25 season at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, said the team would be called Utah Something.

“It will 100 percent be ‘Utah,’ and then it will be ‘Utah Something,’ obviously,” he said. “I don’t think given this timeline that we’re going to have time — or nor should we rush with everything else that’s going on — to go force what that is in the next three months.”

The Delta Center currently hosts the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association.

The NHL Board of Governors voted earlier today to approve an NHL team in Utah for the coming season.

The  NHL team in Utah is owned by Ryan and Ashley Smith, who purchased the contracts of Arizona Coyotes executives, coaches and players.

“The one thing I do know about Utah is, people show up,” Smith said. “We just had the NCAA Tournament here for basketball, and the entire arena was full. It’s just different. It’s just different here. I mean, [the Jazz have] 291 straight sellout games at the Delta Center. I think every concert that’s come into town has sold out. It’s just what we do. We show up. I have a lot of faith in the people of Utah.”

That leaves the Arizona Coyotes as an inactive franchise, with current owner Alex Meruelo having five years to build a suitable arena, and reactivate the franchise.

“One hundred percent,” Smith said. “Actually, that’s probably some of the most exciting parts of this for me, because I just know it’s going to work, and I know people are going to want that.

“Everyone I know from a team standpoint has played team hockey, youth hockey. 
 They’re not only playing a sport, but they’re learning all the life lessons, and that’s why everyone I meet is like, ‘I played hockey growing up.’ They, like, evangelize about it. And you know, I mean, no offense, but you don’t see that with a lot of other sports.”