Less than a week till we know if he wears that jersey next season. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/Flickr)

News, if you can call it that, broke this week in Phoenix that current Coyotes captain Shane Doan wants to remain with the team. Shocking, right? The difference this time is the news came directly from Doan as he stated on a local radio station that the deal was done and he was just waiting for the team to be sold.

Because Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic and AZCentral is awesome, you can read the entire transcript of his interview here.

I’m not going to sit here and predict what is going to happen. It’s not a secret what Doan wants and honestly I’ve been saying all summer that I would be shocked if he wasn’t a Coyote next season. Hopefully Glendale can get their act together and we can end both stories coming out of Phoenix this summer. Either way, according to his agent, the situation revolving around Doan will be decided by next weekend:

“You don’t know what the new CBA is going to have in it,” Bross said. “That’s really why we want to get in before the new CBA is in place. They may restrict signing bonuses. They may restrict length of contract. There are so many wildcards that we want to deal with what we know right now.”

Can’t say I blame him for that. Get it done Glendale! (Oh and if the NHL and NHLPA want to get the CBA done while they’re at it, that would be great too…)

You *may* get to stay in the desert Howler! (Photo: clyde/flickr)

How many of you answered “I doubt it” to that question? Don’t worry, I did too. But for the first time in weeks’ there is hope this long, drawn out, ridiculous saga could be coming to an end.

According to Scott Burnside at ESPN.com, Greg Jamison has finally gathered the funds necessary to purchase the Coyotes and any issues between him and the city of Glendale regarding the lease agreement will be resolved by the end of September.

Do I believe he actually has this money? Yes, I do. Do I think the lease agreement issues might be resolved soon? Sure, that’s possible. Do I expect another roadblock to appear before the end of the month which stops him from actually making this purchase? Of course I do.

I want to believe this is good news as much as everyone in the league wants to. At this point, there isn’t a single person who doesn’t just want a resolution, whatever that may end up being. I’ve stood behind the Yotes for years and I truly believe their fan base deserves this team. Hopefully, they will finally be told they have them.

Now if only the league and player’s association can work out their issues so there can actually be hockey in Phoenix….

Update: And here is the roadblock I was expecting. It didn’t even take till the end of the night. Seriously, can this saga stop being so predictable?

Don’t worry Shane, we are all growing impatient with this… (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

One day there will be good news to report on the Coyotes Ownership front. It may be good news for another city, but at some point there will be good news. Today is not that day.

Earlier this week, news came out that Greg Jamison might not have the funds to purchase the Coyotes after all and if he did finally find the funds, he wouldn’t have the money to run the team after he purchased it. Not surprisingly, there has been no confirmation on this from either Jamison or the league.

» Continue reading “Coyotes Ownership Update: The Story That Never Ends”

Look Shane, we have good news! Now you can re-sign! (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Lots of news coming from Glendale the past couple of days. I’m sure you are all paying close attention to the ownership issues with the Coyotes, right? No? Don’t blame you. The good news is we might, I emphasize MIGHT, be getting closer to a resolution. Yes we’ve all heard this before but stick with me.

» Continue reading “Good News All Around: Coyotes Ownership, Doan & MacLean”

Will the Coyotes be here next season? (Photo: Jesse Spector/flickr)

Yesterday Glendale City Council met to vote on a new arena management fee proposed by Greg Jamison as part of the sale of the Coyotes. The details of the deal can be found here. (Note: To those interested in keeping up to date, AZ Central’s website has done a great job following this saga from the beginning.)

After discussions from all sides, the deal was approved by a 4-2 vote (1 member of the council was missing due to personal reasons). So what does this mean? Well for 48 hours the Coyotes have an arena agreement which means at some point soon they may have an owner. Why only 48 hours? The good old Goldwater Institute has already said they plan to fight the vote.

I do realize that the Goldwater Institute is trying to do what is best for the citizens of Glendale. For that, I respect them. But at this point, I honestly believe that no deal will ever satisfy this group. No idea why but they want the team to leave. I fully understand that having the team costs the city and taxpayers money and that at this point, it will be years before they see green rather than red in their books. But Glendale just spent millions of taxpayers dollars to build the arena. How can it be better for the city to have that arena empty? To me, that doesn’t make sense. But I’m not a lawyer so maybe I’m missing something.

I have been trying to follow this saga since the original owners filed for bankruptcy and the team was sold to the NHL and to be honest, I still don’t understand all the ins and outs. But the fans of the team deserve this saga to end. No other perspective owner has gotten to this point so hopefully this is a sign that will happen in the near future. But as one die-hard fan replied when asked how they felt about the vote “cautiously excited, light on the excited & heavy on the cautious”. It’s bad that good news isn’t even looked at as that anymore…