December 31, 2010
Here we are on December 31, 2010. Today is a date we loyal Coyotes fans have been dreading for a long time now because it is THE drop-dead deadline from the NHL for the Coyotes sale to be consummated so the team will remain in Arizona. The sword hanging over our heads for over a year and a half has been the threat of having our team be relocated to Canada, a very real possibility that had only the most Pollyannish of us believing we would still have a team for the 2011-12 season. An early gambit for the team that would have relocated them to Ontario, in apparent concert with Jerry Moyes’ bankruptcy filing, by perennial giant ego Blackberry co-CEO Balsillie consumed untold dollars in federal court before failing, leaving the NHL to own the Coyotes. Then, two additional attempts to purchase the team failed, both of which were purported to maintain the team in Arizona for some period, although the Ice Edge offer included (at least initially) playing some ‘home’ games in Saskatoon. After the demise of those two offers, apparently at the hands of the Glendale City Council and their odd negotiating style, we were all thinking we’d be waving goodbye to the Coyotes as they left for Canada, probably Winnipeg, at the end of this season.
Unless I’ve missed something, there are still some SIGNIFICANT outstanding items (aka money to change hands) to be completed before the deal with Matt Hulsizer can be considered complete. Yet, as a Coyotes fan, I’m not too worried today and I feel pretty good about the on and off ice future of the Coyotes in Glendale.
Off the ice, the team is still in a state of flux. The City of Glendale has promised to pursue funding their 100 million dollar commitment to Hulsizer (for managing the Jobing.com arena) with the sale of bonds. This sale has not yet taken place, and the market for municipal bonds is unstable at best. There was open concern on the city council with the potential sale of the bonds and the interest rate to be paid. Until the bonds are sold and the money is available, I don’t think that pen can officially touch paper in signing the controversial lease agreement, a key component in the Coyotes deal.
Naysayers Galore
The Goldwater Institute has objected to the terms of this agreement and had, at one point, threatened to sue the City of Glendale citing a violation of some ‘gift clause’ in the Arizona State Constitution. Glendale’s city attorney remains confident that Goldwater’s claims are groundless.
A local television station has, according to one of their reporters, cited the Freedom of Information Act to retrieve all of the documents pertinent to the proposed lease agreement between Glendale and Hulsizer. I am not aware of the state of either of these plays as of today.
The NHL Board of Governors has to approve Matt Hulsizer as a new owner and welcome him into their club. Nobody thinks this is anything more than a rubber stamp done deal, but it IS still another key piece of the puzzle not in place.
Play On The Ice
On the ice, the team is bouncing between really good and horrible, with no stops between. After a brief stop at the top of the Pacific Division, the ‘Yotes tanked consistently all the way down to the cellar. I will admit to using the fast forward button liberally just to get through some of the games on the DVR, and we even completely skipped a game. It was not fun to watch the Coyotes play, seeing players coasting around and not digging for anything. They even ALMOST lost to the (at the time) worst team in the NHL (the Islanders), eking out a win in a shootout. The strange part of the skid was that it seemed to begin the day AFTER the City Council meeting where the lease agreement with Hulsizer was ratified, the exact opposite reaction you would expect from players who didn’t know where their kids would be going to school the next year.
That said, the home game a couple days ago (Coyotes win 6-3) against the Kings will hopefully be THE season turnaround game for the Coyotes since they played a consistent game with everybody contributing and digging hard. As a fan at the game, it was a reassuring pleasure to watch. Last season, the turnaround came when the Coyotes battled their way back at the very end of a game against the Red Wings to win, beginning their march toward their first playoff appearance in a very long time.
On the ice, all of the pieces are in place and there’s plenty of talent skating for the San Antonio Rampage to fill in the blanks when necessary, Coach Tippett is still the same guy who was the Coach of the Year last season and Bryz is the same solid goaltender who will keep the Coyotes in almost any game. The leadership on and off the ice is exemplary, making the Coyotes the working class ‘no star’ team that everybody will want to root for and BUY TICKETS TO SEE.
Would it be nice to have some star quality player(s) skating with the Coyotes? Somebody really dangerous? Maybe, although the guys who are on the team RIGHT NOW are capable of putting together a run for the Stanley Cup and shutting down all the Crosby/Zetterberg/Sedin/Ovechkin type teams. We’ve seen them do it, look at last year with a seven game series with the vaunted Red Wings. It’s a really doable thing, and we all want to see that guy (above) hoisting the Stanley Cup before he finally runs out of gas.
Off the ice, Matt Hulsizer is the man. We had the chance to speak with him, with his dad, and with his father-in-law while at the City Council meeting. They’re all hockey fans. Matt (his dad told us that ‘I am MISTER Hulsizer, he is Matt’) has realistic expectations about the Coyotes making money. He’s got the background to make it happen and the will to stick with it for the next 30 years. I couldn’t be happier that he’s on board and have every confidence that THIS TIME the deal will go through.
It’s a great time to be a Coyotes fan! GO COYOTES!