It has been about one year since the Coyotes were purchased from the NHL by George Gosbee, Anthony Leblanc and a consortium of (what I understand are) Canadian business owners.
While it is no doubt good that they bought the team and removed the constant "Will they move" refrain from the conversation, there has been both ups and downs in the first year.
The first and most positive thing is that they did in fact buy the team. With the NHL no longer running the Coyotes, they are now free to act like a real team. That in itself has been great news and makes everything else seem like a triviality.
However, while Ice Arizona owning the Coyotes is of course good news, it does come with the caveat that they have an out after 5 years in which they could theoretically move the team.
Recent objections (that seem to amount to technicalities) over the way in which the Glendale City Council conducted their vote to keep the team have been raised and while these do not seem immanently threatening, they are annoying, and do cast a shadow over what should be good news.
My feeling is that Council BS and out-clauses aside, the Coyotes are thriving. Sure, there is always the chance that a worst case scenario unfolds, but the odds are that the NHL has worked for nearly 20 years to develop this franchise and it is growing, and it is one of the largest markets in America,so I think it would have to take a complete bottoming out of interest or attendance - neither of which is likely - in order for the team to move.
The fact is, the team is under its most stable ownership in its history and the interest and excitement around the team is palpable. A move at this point seems incredibly unlikely.
As to other developments with the new ownership, it seems, like most things, that you have to take the good with the bad.
Good:
They spent the money to sign and then buy-out Mike Ribeiro. They spent the money to bring in Sam Gagner.
Bad
They still don't seem like they are willing to spend to the cap, which I think is a short-sighted and horrible decision. The team could use at least one top line forward, and there is concern that they are in and around their max budget already.
Good
They seem intent on trying creative things to improve the team's market share and attendance. Things like bringing in Canadian Coffee giant Tim Horton's, having 'Canada Fest' and changing the name from Phoenix to Arizona.
Bad
Those things all have the feel of corporate BS. Sure, I guess changing the name will appeal to people who live outside of Glendale/Phoenix. I mean,I can't say for sure that it won't, but it strikes me as odd that that would appeal to anyone - I mean, who is that stupid? I live in Ontario, and I certainly wouldn't feel more attached to the gross old Ottawa Senators if they suddenly became the Ontario Senators, nor could I picture anyone else doing so.
As for the coffee, it's generic and bland. The Budweiser of coffees, if you will. In Canada, people who actually enjoy and understand anything about coffee laugh at people who think Tim Horten's is actually good. It's basically just the Canadian Version of Dunkin' Doughnuts.
Not that I can afford to go there, but it's no Starbucks.
As for Canada fest, maybe they could have gotten a few bands that were relevant after Nixon was president. If they get Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Neil Young, The Cowboy Junkies and Robbie Robertson, I will fly to Phoenix myself to attend. (Well, I can't afford a plane ticket, or a hotel, or tickets to the event, but I at least would want to).
Still, A for effort guys.
Finally, as with everything hockey related, the success of the new ownership comes down to the success of the team. Here we also have good and bad.
Good
The team only missed the playoffs by 2 points last year in the ultra competitive Western Conference, and they have an exciting up and coming team lead by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and an unreal group of young defenseman. In reality, if Mike Smith does not get injured for the last month of the season,they are a playoff team - sorry Dallas.
Though people are already writing off their playoff chances next year, they should be close and will probably make it- their team will be better, as all their young guys will improve and OEL will continue to dominate.
Bad
The fact is, they did miss the playoffs and don't have a single for-sure top line forward. Also, attendance remains last in the league. As bad as that single sentence makes things seem, the ownership has only been here and things seem on the upswing, so I think we should wait awhile before we judge them too harshly for these things. They are working to improve attendance - Pre-game BBQs attended by ownership, town hall meetings and even the things I criticized above will all help, eventually.
However, gimmicks aside, winning is what really sells and being a Cap Team will expedite that process faster than playing to the stupidity of casual fans and Canadian ex-pats living in Arizona due to asthma or being ancient and rich.
Overall, I give the new ownership a solid rating so far- I like their creativity and their willingness to spend and not tie the team down with an unbreakable budget, however, I can't fully support them until they are willing to spend to the top of the salary cap.
There are teams in cap crunches right now, and there are players they could get if they want to take on other teams problems. They should do that, because they could easily exploit the rules to their advantage without weakening their burgeoning prospect pipeline.
Oh, and they should re-sign Paul Bissonnette immediately.
Thanks for reading