Rumor Rundown as NHL Hype Hits All Time High in Utah

The Arizona Coyotes didn’t appear to have a home in the Grand Canyon state in the near future.

Where hockey has blossomed in untraditional places (Carolina, Nashville and Vegas), Arizona has been met with much more turbulence.

A hot start in after moving from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996, 6 consecutive winning seasons and 5 playoff appearances, wasn’t enough to tie fans over to what was to come next.

In the following 21 seasons (2002-current) Arizona would have only 8 seasons above .500, and 4 playoff appearances, albeit one being a conference finals appearance in 2012.

In the last 12 seasons, the Coyotes have 4 winning seasons and one playoff appearance, so things have progressively gotten worse.

With a history of way too many owners, troubling financial scenarios, and waning interest, the stadium dispute seemed to be the final nail in the coffin.

Salt Lake City came up as a natural landing spot for the flailing franchise as Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith seems to be rolling out the red carpet for an NHL team.

It didn’t take a scientist to see that Smith and company would likely act quickly at any chance to see professional hockey in the Wasatch.

Then, it all seemingly vanished with a big-time plan for Arizona:

With the land and the future stadium plans before us, Utah was once again put in the “maybe” one day as an expansion hopeful.

But a lot can change in *checks notes* six days.

Just today, the rumors have been hot and heady on the state of the Coyotes and Utah’s future in hockey.

Everything that seemingly got dismissed less than a week ago has reappeared with a vengeance.

Rather than explain it all in long-drawn-out paragraphs, let me take you on a social media adventure as we try to display all the biggest rumors on ol reliable AKA x.com:

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix was the first that I could see to allude too any of this, and has a lot of good stuff to say afterwards as the news becomes more common:

Those words went from what seemed like an interesting idea to having real substance within hours, and by that I mean a lot of substance, that no side of the equation has stepped in to dispute:

If no one's going to step in and stop the madness, let the floodgates open:

The Coyotes rebuttal so far? A hype video announcing their commitment once again.

What isn't mentioned is a commitment to the current iteration of the team.

Hockey may be back in Arizona and those commitments and arena can stand true, sure.

But that doesn't mean the Coyotes as we know today are a part of that.

Either way Utah, keep your eyes peeled, this is just heating up:

And of course, remember, nothing is FINALIZED: