March 14, 2013
In case you haven't heard, the Coyotes have some ownership issues (or lack-of-ownership issues, to be specific). With the Greg Jamison deal having fallen through and any hypothetical new purchaser needing to work out an arena deal with Glendale -- something that derailed the bid before Jamison's and is expected to be more difficult now that Glendale has a new mayor and city council -- it's within the realm of possibility that the current season will be the Coyotes' last in their current location, even as Gary Bettman continues to hold out hope otherwise.
Things don't look particularly promising ... at least not for those wanting the Coyotes in their current location. But there are some people who don't want that, most of whom are a thousand or so miles to the north.
With the Winnipeg faithful now in possession of another NHL team and no longer vulturing over the Coyotes while salivating at the possibility of bringing back their one-time Jets, it's the people in Seattle who have taken their place in the comments section of Coyotes stories all over the internet.
On Thursday, businessman Chris Hansen -- who is awaiting approval of his attempted purchase of the Sacramento Kings, a franchise he would then move to Seattle to revive the SuperSonics -- fanned the flames a bit with a blog post on SeattleArena.com featuring renderings of the hockey setup for the new arena that is in development in the city's downtown area. The post includes the following line ...
"While I know there may have been a few skeptics out there, I have to say I am just as pumped as most of you to see the return of professional hockey to Seattle, and honestly can't wait to see this building bursting at the seams with crazed Seattle hockey fans."
... and the following picture, which could definitely use some blue lines:
It also includes a "click to embiggen" link under the renderings that's made odd by the fact that "embiggen" isn't a word but a neologism from The Simpsons. Maybe Hansen's a fan? He's obviously a fan of getting pro sports teams to Seattle and getting people excited about it; he's already started a wait list for Sonics season tickets.
And while that's great for Seattle, it's a little unnerving for the Phoenix metro hockey community since the future he's blogging about is one that most likely features the Coyotes as the team in that "crazed" arena.
-- Matt Swartz
