Long live the Kachina.
The latest chapter of the Arizona Coyotes saga has closed, as Alex Meruelo has officially signed paperwork giving up his rights to the franchise, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reported Wednesday.
The franchise had been sold in recent months to Ryan Smith, who relocated the franchise to Salt Lake City, Utah. As part of the sale, Meruelo retained the rights to the Coyotes franchise and brand for five years in hopes of reinvigorating the franchise with a new arena in the desert.
A plan was in place for him to bid in an Arizona State Land Department auction for a plot of land bordering Scottsdale, Arizona on June 27th, but the department cancelled it. They said that was due to the arena plan requiring a special use permit that was not in place.
The door is now open for prospective owners to come up with a plan of their own to bring back the franchise, but a new arena would be needed before anything could happen.

Who remains in free agency?

The free agent market has been picked over by the pack of 32 NHL teams, leaving little behind in the way of big-name players.
But just because the all the top players have found homes doesn’t mean there aren’t others still looking for jobs.
While most players will take their talents overseas, land on professional tryouts with North American clubs, or outright call it a career, Daily Faceoff’s Mike Gould took a look at two intriguing players who could still sign with a team: Alex Nylander and Oliver Kylington.

Alex Nylander

The younger Nylander brother had 14 NHL goals in 106 career regular season and playoff games with the Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, and Pittsburgh Penguins before being acquired by the Columbus Blue Jackets this past February. The 26-year-old Swede had been relegated to the AHL for the majority of his pro career to that point and had seldom been put in a scoring role during his intermittent NHL stints.
That all changed in Columbus, where Nylander averaged a career-high 16:45 of ice time over 23 games and exploded with 11 goals, just one fewer than Johnny Gaudreau managed over 81 games last season. Nylander shot the puck at seemingly every opportunity, testing opposing goaltenders 62 times (that’s nearly three shots per game) and posting three multi-goal games, including a hat trick against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 4.
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But there’s also something to be said for Nylander going to a team with plenty of cap space (and, with that, opportunity). The Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks, and Montreal Canadiens could all use a bit more scoring punch in their lineup. The market for Nylander might not be all that robust — if it was, he probably would’ve signed by now — but there should be plenty of teams interested in giving him a shot.

Oliver Kylington

Now that Adam Boqvist, Erik Brannstrom, Jake Bean, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Josh Mahura are all off the market, Kylington is the best young puck-moving defenseman out there — and when he’s at his best, he’s better than all those guys. But after failing to come to an agreement with the Flames before July 1, the 27-year-old Kylington is still in search of a new deal for the 2024-25 season and beyond.
Kylington played in just 33 games with the Flames during his previous two-year contract with the club. After posting a career year on a pairing with Chris Tanev in 2021-22, Kylington missed the entire following season while dealing with then-undisclosed mental health problems. He attempted to make a comeback at the start of the 2023-24 campaign but ended up needing to take a brief step back before finally returning to the lineup in January.
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Kylington is a supremely talented and smooth-skating defenseman with lots to prove. Whichever team eventually lands him will be adding a valuable piece to their organization. If he can play anywhere close to a full 82 games this upcoming season, Kylington could be in line for a much bigger payday one year from now.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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