Utah (NHL franchise)

The Utah NHL franchise (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) are a hockey team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).

The franchise started in the NHL as the Winnipeg Jets (not to be confused with the current NHL team of the same name, itself the result of relocation) and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1996. After the move, they were known as the Phoenix Coyotes until June 27, 2014, when (consistent with the area's MLB and NFL franchises) they took the Arizona moniker.

While in the Phoenix area, for a while they were partially owned by an all-time great of Hockey, Wayne Gretzky. The team originally shared an arena with the NBA's Phoenix Suns, until deciding to build their own arena in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix on its western side. The arrangement of a separate arena and the ensuing bad lease terms (which Glendale has repeatedly refused to renegotiate) resulted in lack of fan support and repeated issues of financial distress; their failure to pay lease payments resulted in the team losing their lease after the 2021-2022 season. This led at the time to endless speculation as to where the team would play: possibilities included another arena in the Phoenix area, or relocation to another area (rumored cities included Quebec City (which lost the Quebec Nordiques), Houston (which had a successful World Hockey League and minor league teams in the past, and is the largest media market not to have a hockey team; it would also give the Dallas Stars a natural rival), and Kansas City, among others).

Ultimately the team signed an agreement to share an arena with the Arizona State University club hockey team; the 5,000-seat arena was by far the smallest venue of any professional franchise in not only the NHL but in all four of the major sports leagues. An attempt was made to build a new arena in the suburb of Tempe; however, the voters rejected three proposals which would have funded the stadium (in a sign of the deteriorating relationship between club and fans, the voters decided that the land's current use -- an illegal toxic landfill -- was preferable to a new arena).

With no realistic plans for a new arena in sight, and facing continual losses from their tiny arena arrangement, in April 2024 the club was sold to the owners of the NBA's Utah Jazz and will relocate to Salt Lake City beginning with the 2024-2025 season. The Coyotes prior owner kept all rights to the Coyotes name and franchise records, and was given an exclusive five-year window in which to build a new arena, which if successful the NHL would grant the new owner an expansion franchise; otherwise, operations will officially cease. As of April 2024, a new name for the franchise (which will include the name "Utah") has not been decided.