Follow @james_tanner123 The Coyotes are a much better organization than I feel the general perception indicates.
They never make the Playoffs, their "biggest star" in franchise history is a career 3rd liner/ 20 goal scoring grinder, they are always bankrupt, changing owners, trying and failing to build new arenas when they already have a really good one, building that really good one in a strange and indefensible location, and they were ran by the incompetent Don Maloney for years and years.
They play hockey in a desert, they were once owned by the NHL, they are the only city that cheers Gary Bettman, etc etc etc. I mean, if you're reading this, you hardly need these reminders of why many outside of Arizona consider this team a joke.
I have covered them for three years, and I've heard dozens of stories about the team going above and beyond to take care of players, make them comfortable or whatever. Certainly the team has always combated the percieved perception of it as a fifth-rate franchise by taking care of it's players and making it a great place to play.
What I am trying to say is that the perception doesn't always match the reality. Some outside the area see the team as a joke, but the ownership is stable and the team is building something with a chance to be very special.
But there is one way to cement that and move the team from also-ran after-thought to a premier franchise: Hire Claude Julien.
The NHL has taken parity to joke-like levels and a coach of Julien's calibre can make a massive difference. Boston was thought by many, including me, to be in massive decline. Instead, if wins and losses were adjusted for bad luck, they'd be a top-five team.
But as luck would have it, they aren't and they fired the main non-Bergeron reason for their hidden success.
The Coyotes have Tippett - a coach suited to the clutch and grab era who has no history of success with young teams. He has a Randy Carlyle-like reputation for dealing with young players. (Which is like saying he has a Trump-like reputation for honesty).
Tippett is very much embedded in this organization and so he should be made President. It already makes no sense that a bad coach is the boss of the GM. So, make Tippett President, keep Chayka as GM and hire Julien as coach.
Write him a blank check. Promise him the respect he never got in Boston.
But get it done. Claude Julien would give the Coyotes the kind of cache they'd never had before. Claude Julien managed to make the Bruins a power-house despite always having the rug yanked out from him in the form of having his best players traded - Kessel, Seguin, Hamilton etc.....and he still succeeded.
Get it done.
Promote Tippett. Hire Julien.