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A very rich man in Utah is on his way to buy the Arizona Coyotes for a whopping $1.3 billion. The Arizona Coyotes, who's most valuable assets are a 20-year-old second overall pick and a place on the NHL schedule. The Seattle Kraken were bought as an expansion franchise for $650 million, and the NHL have managed to get double that much to move their biggest headache franchise out of a college rink into the hands of a now-joint NBA and NHL franchise owner in a city with a winter olympics coming up (new rink). Leave your opinions about capitalism aside, that's good business.

NHL, Arizona Coyotes preparing for possible relocation to Utah
The NHL and the Arizona Coyotes are preparing for the possibility of a move to Utah as soon as April 18, multiple sources confirmed Wednesday.
Sportsnet| April 10, 2024, 4:02 PM
Sources: NHL, Arizona Coyotes working on agreement to sell and relocate to Salt Lake City
A sale could include an agreement to ‘reactivate’ the Coyotes as a future expansion franchise.
Daily FaceoffFrank Seravalli

Now, the NHL might be getting that much because they might be having to pay off some of Alex Murelo's debt that is tied to the Coyotes in order to start the new owner off with a clean slate – not dissimilar to Michael Andlauer's purchase of the Ottawa Senators. The majority stake in the Ottawa franchise was sold for a reported $900 million, with a reported 50% of that going towards paying off debts.

I'm sure we will see many eulogies of the Arizona Coyotes in the months to come. At the end of the day, they were a team that never won games and never gave the community in the various areas they played in a reason to cheer for them. That's why they're gone. Even now after the team put some money into free agency, they're fifth from the bottom in the NHL.

And don't forget this last night, hilarious.

WAIT! No. This is even funnier.

Several other cities, like Houston and Atlanta, are working on plans to get expansion teams in the near/medium future.

The NHLPA did their annual player poll and William Nylander finished 2nd in best dressed in front of Auston Matthews in third. Marner was on the list for best passers. Sarah Nurse and Jesse Compher were among the PWHL players among the NHLers favourites to watch.

2023-24 NHLPA Player Poll results unveiled
639 NHLPA members participated in ninth edition of the poll.
NHLPA.comNHLPA Media Release

Last but not least, a playoff standings update. All the teams in the West up to and including the Minnesota Wild are eliminated from the playoffs (MIN, SEA, CGY, UTA, ANA, CHI, SJS).

The East has more of a race among the reluctant. Ottawa, Montreal, and Columbus are eliminated already. Buffalo and New Jersey will be out if they lose points or if the team in the second wild card have 86 or more points.

NYI, WSH, PIT, DET, and PHI are all within four points of each other with four games left except Philly who have three games left and are at the bottom of the pack. They were comfortably in the third division spot in the Metro a few weeks ago but have lost nine of their last 10.

Meanwhile the Leafs and Bruins share the longest active playoff streak (eight seasons).

Women's Worlds moves to the quarterfinal stage today and the games and times are:

  • Finland vs Switzerland at 10 am
  • Czechia vs Germany at 1:30 pm
  • Canada vs Sweden at 5:00 pm
  • USA vs Japan at 8:30 pm

All games are on TSN in Canada, and I believe only the USA game is on TV in America, the host of the tournament.

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