Arizona Coyotes

Lore & Background

The franchise began as the original Winnipeg Jets, one of the founding teams of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and the most successful club in that league, winning the Avco World Trophy three times. The Jets joined the NHL in 1979 as part of the WHA merger but lost most of their top players in the reclamation draft, finishing last in the NHL in their first two seasons. Despite making the playoffs 11 times in 15 seasons, the Jets won only two playoff series, largely due to being in the same division as the powerful Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. Financial troubles in the 1990s, exacerbated by Winnipeg being the second-smallest market in the NHL, forced owner Barry Shenkarow to sell the team. Minnesota businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke purchased the team in October 1995 with plans to move it to Minneapolis–St. Paul, but after failing to secure a lease at the Target Center, they relocated the franchise to Phoenix instead.

Upon arrival in Phoenix, the team was renamed the Coyotes after a name-the-team contest, a choice seen as a play on the Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, given the presence of minor league teams called the Phoenix Roadrunners. The Coyotes added superstar Jeremy Roenick and featured power wingers Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet, along with young players like Shane Doan, Oleg Tverdovsky, and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. The team posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons and made the playoffs in all but one of those years. Their original home, America West Arena, was designed for basketball and proved suboptimal for hockey, with sight lines that obscured nearly a third of the rink from several sections, forcing capacity to be cut to just over 16,000 seats.

The Coyotes failed to gain long-term stability, enduring multiple ownership changes and struggling to secure a profitable arena. The NHL took over the franchise in 2009 after owner Jerry Moyes filed for bankruptcy, maintaining control until 2013. Alex Meruelo became majority owner on July 29, 2019. The team's relationship with Glendale deteriorated, leading to a move to Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University for the 2022–23 season. A proposed new arena in Tempe was rejected by city residents in May 2023. Following the 2023–24 season, the Coyotes suspended hockey operations. In a deal brokered by the NHL, the team's hockey assets were transferred to the Utah Hockey Club (later the Utah Mammoth), while the Coyotes' name and history were retained by Meruelo, who later relinquished them after a failed land auction in June 2024. On September 24, 2026, the Coyotes were retconned as a 1996 expansion team after the NHL consolidated the franchise records of the original Winnipeg Jets with the current Jets.

Reader's Guide

The Arizona Coyotes are notable as a franchise that struggled for long-term stability despite relocating from Winnipeg to a larger market. The team endured multiple ownership changes, including a period of direct NHL control from 2009 to 2013, and faced persistent difficulties securing a suitable arena. Their original home, America West Arena, was poorly configured for hockey, and later negotiations with Glendale deteriorated, forcing the team to play at a college arena, Mullett Arena, which was considered too small even for temporary use. The Coyotes' inability to resolve their arena situation led to the suspension of hockey operations after the 2023–24 season. In a unique arrangement, the franchise was effectively split: its hockey assets were transferred to a new expansion team in Utah, while the Coyotes' name and history were initially retained by owner Alex Meruelo, who ultimately gave them up after a failed land auction. The franchise was later retconned as a 1996 expansion team when the NHL consolidated the original Winnipeg Jets' records with the current Jets. The Coyotes' legacy is one of a team that, despite early on-ice competitiveness and notable players like Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, and Shane Doan, could not overcome off-ice instability and ultimately ceased operations in Arizona.

Did You Know?

• The franchise was established on July 1, 1996, after the original Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix.
• The team played at Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University from 2022 to 2024.
• The Coyotes suspended hockey operations after the 2023–24 season, and their hockey assets were transferred to the Utah Hockey Club.