Morning Meltdown – Arizona Coyotes Edition

For this Morning Meltdown let’s take a look into some of the buzz surrounding the Arizona Coyotes.

In July 2013, the Glendale City Council voted—barely, by a 4-3 margin—to approve a complicated lease deal that was the last possible hope of keeping the Coyotes in Arizona.

"“A new report from the Seattle Times reveals that the NHL had a contingency plan in place if the vote went the other way: moving trucks were literally standing by to relocate the team to Seattle.Three sources with knowledge of negotiations confirm the Coyotes would have been bought by New York investment banker Ray Bartoszek and his partner Anthony Lanza and moved to Seattle as soon as the following day — playing up to three seasons at KeyArena — had the vote not passed.“Most people don’t realize how close we were to actually getting an NHL team,” says former Seattle mayor Mike McGinn, who had been involved in the relocation talks.The Bartoszek/Lanza group was mentioned as leading potential buyers at the time, as was a “framework” for a lease to see the Coyotes play at the KeyArena until a new arena could be financed a built, so this isn’t out of left field. What is new is evidence that the NHL was ready to immediately pull the trigger on the sale and relocation if the Glendale vote had failed.”To read more about this, click here.Training camp has closed and the 23 players currently on the Coyotes roster are the ones coach Dave Tippett anticipates starting the season Thursday with,“You have three players that want to be in the lineup, so there’s going to be competition that way,” Tippett said. “The thing you have to remember coming out of camp, it’s easy to think everybody’s gone but you have the players in Portland that are a phone call away. It’s not as if those players are out of the picture by any stretch of the imagination.“This is the way we’ll start. We’ll see where it goes.”The Coyotes completed their 23-man roster Saturday by dismissing defenseman Matt Smaby from his professional tryout and keeping center Justin Hodgman, who signed a one-year, two-way contract as a free agent July 1.Smaby had a strong showing in camp, but the Coyotes felt they already had two defensemen — Chris Summers and David Schlemko — who played like Smaby. Plus, adding depth at center is never a bad option.”To read more about the Coyotes final roster, click here.For all of the latest Arizona Coyotes news, stick with us at Heat Waved and check back daily to read more about your favorite Arizona teams.Published on 10/09/2014 at 7:00 AM MSTLast updated on 10/09/2014 at 7:00 AM MST Three sources with knowledge of negotiations confirm the Coyotes would have been bought by New York investment banker Ray Bartoszek and his partner Anthony Lanza and moved to Seattle as soon as the following day — playing up to three seasons at KeyArena — had the vote not passed.“Most people don’t realize how close we were to actually getting an NHL team,” says former Seattle mayor Mike McGinn, who had been involved in the relocation talks.“You have three players that want to be in the lineup, so there’s going to be competition that way,” Tippett said. “The thing you have to remember coming out of camp, it’s easy to think everybody’s gone but you have the players in Portland that are a phone call away. It’s not as if those players are out of the picture by any stretch of the imagination.“This is the way we’ll start. We’ll see where it goes.”The Coyotes completed their 23-man roster Saturday by dismissing defenseman Matt Smaby from his professional tryout and keeping center Justin Hodgman, who signed a one-year, two-way contract as a free agent July 1.Smaby had a strong showing in camp, but the Coyotes felt they already had two defensemen — Chris Summers and David Schlemko — who played like Smaby. Plus, adding depth at center is never a bad option.”"