Dylan Guenther, #11 of the Arizona Coyotes, is congratulated after scoring a goal on Arturs Silovs, #31 of the Vancouver Canucks, during the third period of their NHL game at Rogers Arena on April 10 in Vancouver.As Thomas Jefferson sort of said, the merchant of hockey has no country. As Wayne Gretzky kind of put it, you skate to where the puck money is going.of the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City.
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard has referred to himself as the minister responsible for resurrecting the Quebec Nordiques – the maiden name of the team that married Denver, Colo., in 1995, becoming the Avalanche – but even he’s given up hope.reports that he mostly talked about how he’s been very busy “suggesting” that the Montreal Canadians consider playing “one or more” regular-season games inseveral more NHL franchises in Canada. The most logical site is Toronto.
The NHL did allow one team to relocate to Canada in 2011, but it took the miracle – or from the NHL’s perspective, the disaster – of Georgia taxpayers freezing out the Atlanta Thrashers. There was no suitable U.S. buyer, and no suitable volume of local U.S. taxpayer subsidies, to be found on short notice. The happy result was the second coming of the Winnipeg Jets.As for Phoenix, the league has worked hard to keep a team there because it’s one of the biggest U.S. cities, and growing fast.