A return for hockey in the desert may be coming sooner than we thought.
The dust has settled on Alex Meruelo’s messy departure from ownership of the Arizona Coyotes, seeing the team sold to Ryan Smith and subsequently uprooted to Utah. The rights to the Coyotes name and brand are now back in possession of the NHL, and interest is already starting to percolate about a potential return.
Mat Ishbia, owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury told Sportico’s Barry Bloom he has an interest in resurrecting the Kachina.
“I’m definitely going to be part of the community, and if I can help bring hockey back, I’ll look at that,” Ishbia said. “It’s definitely something I’m interested in. It’s a four-sport town. I’m disappointed we don’t have a hockey team, but I understand what happened, and we’re going to try to fix that one day.”
Ishbia played coy with Bloom, not divulging if he had spoken with the NHL, while the league itself made no comment.
The long-struggling Coyotes met their match with Meruelo running them into the ground deeper than they had before, but any prospective owner is believed to need to have an arena deal in place when they purchase the team.
Money isn’t an issue for Ishbia, worth $10.1-billion, according to Bloom, and Ishbia himself said he believes a new downtown arena is in Phoenix’s future.
“We’re going to continue to evolve,” Ishbia told Bloom. “My investment in basketball and this community’s not going to stop.”
Flyers sign Konecny to eight-year pact
Oilers fans long hopeful of the team acquiring Philadelphia Flyers winger Travis Konecny had their hopes squashed Thursday morning when the team signed him to an eight-year extension.
The deal will be worth $70-million over its length, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, and sees the Konecny earn $8.75-million annually.
The deal kicks in for the 2025-26 campaign.
“Travis Konecny is an integral part of the fabric of our team,” Flyers General Manager Danny Briere said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have him under contract for the long-term. Travis has grown into a significant leader on our team and he truly embodies what it means to be a Flyer. His work-ethic, combined with his tenacity and talent makes him a central figure for what we are building towards, and his determination for our future success speaks volumes about his commitment to our team and city.”
Here’s more on Konecny from Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl:
Konecny is heading into the final year of a five-year contract with a $5.5 million cap hit that he signed when Chuck Fletcher was the GM in Philly in September 2019.The London, Ontario native has spent the entirety of his career with the Flyers. The team took him in the first round, 24th overall, of the 2015 NHL Draft. Knoecny joined Philadelphia during the 2016-17 season, quickly becoming one of the team’s top offensive weapons. It is a role he has held for his entire career.Konecny has averaged 50 points a season in his NHL career, but his production has really ramped up over the past couple of years. In 2023-24, the former Ottawa 67 posted career highs in goals (33), assists (35) and points (68). It marked the third time in Konecny’s career that he hit the 60-point mark in a single season.In 564 career games, Konecny has notched 174 goals and 226 assists for 400 points, with another eight points coming in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
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.
