2023-24 NHL Season Thread 🏒

[Storr]

The players on the Arizona Coyotes roster have been told that they'll be relocating to Salt Lake City in Utah, effective next season.


Emily Kaplan at ESPN.com:

Arizona Coyotes players were informed Friday that the team is relocating to Utah, sources told ESPN, confirming a report by PHNX Sports.

Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong met with the players ahead of their game against the Edmonton Oilers to confirm what had been rumored all week: that the NHL is working to facilitate a sale to Ryan and Ashley Smith, owners of the Utah Jazz. The Coyotes will begin playing there next season.

The NHL and Smith's group have been working on a deal, but sources told ESPN on Friday night that nothing was done yet, and there was plenty of work to go before the deal was finalized.

An announcement is expected next week, at the conclusion of the NHL regular season, sources told ESPN.

The weirdest part of the deal is that the NHL will be basically laundering a franchise in order to facilitate the move:

"The NHL would purchase the Coyotes from Meruelo in a deal believed to be worth around $1 billion. This would mark the second time the NHL would have owned the Coyotes, buying the franchise from owner Jerry Moyes in 2009 after he filed for bankruptcy. The league owned and operated the Coyotes until 2013.

The league source said that after purchasing the team, the NHL would then sell the Coyotes to Smith at a price that could be as high as $1.3 billion -- much higher than the $650 million expansion fee that the Seattle Kraken's owners paid in 2021 to join the league. The source said the NHL's other 31 owners would split $300 million as part of the sale."

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39915208/coyotes-relocate-salt-lake-city-part-nhl-plan

[JGibson]

The 2024/2025 NHL Winter Classic between the Blues and Blackhawks at Wrigley will be on New Year's Eve:

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1780730361711890527

[The Dowager Mod]

I made a bracket challenge if anyone is interested, pw:atlas1

[KaiserDave]

This better be our year.

[T'Chenka]

Let me get my bracket posted before any of the games start :

ROUND ONE

Tampa Bay defeats Florida
Boston defeats Toronto

NY Rangers defeat Washington
Carolina defeats NY Islanders

Dallas defeats Vegas
Winnipeg defeats Colorado

Vancouver defeats Nashville
Los Angeles defeats Edmonton

ROUND TWO

Tampa Bay defeats Boston
NY Rangers defeat Carolina

Dallas defeats Winnipeg
Vancouver defeats Los Angeles

ROUND THREE

NY Rangers defeat Tampa Bay

Dallas defeats Vancouver

STANLEY CUP FINALS

NY Rangers defeat Dallas Stars

[JGibson]

Things you see in NHL Playoffs: Toronto Maple Leafs constantly choking in Game 7s.

[JGibson]

Craig Berube is headed to Toronto to be their head coach.

https://twitter.com/TSNHockey/status/1791575337718956045

[T'Chenka]

Let me get my bracket posted before any of the games start :

ROUND ONE

Tampa Bay defeats Florida
Boston defeats Toronto

NY Rangers defeat Washington
Carolina defeats NY Islanders

Dallas defeats Vegas
Winnipeg defeats Colorado

Vancouver defeats Nashville
Los Angeles defeats Edmonton

ROUND TWO

Tampa Bay defeats Boston
NY Rangers defeat Carolina

Dallas defeats Winnipeg
Vancouver defeats Los Angeles

ROUND THREE

NY Rangers defeat Tampa Bay

Dallas defeats Vancouver

STANLEY CUP FINALS

NY Rangers defeat Dallas Stars

Looking good but not great so far.

[vtred]

Let's Go Rangers!!

[Badger]

Bye Rangers!

Officially rooting for the Oilers as I really want to see Connor McDavid raise the cup. Long overdue and well deserved. Leon Draisaitl too.

[Ancestral Republican]

Bye Rangers!

Officially rooting for the Oilers as I really want to see Connor McDavid raise the cup. Long overdue and well deserved. Leon Draisaitl too.

Not a hockey fan but I agree. It's been a long time since the Stanley Cup belonged to a team from its homeland.

[Badger]

Bye Rangers!

Officially rooting for the Oilers as I really want to see Connor McDavid raise the cup. Long overdue and well deserved. Leon Draisaitl too.

Not a hockey fan but I agree. It's been a long time since the Stanley Cup belonged to a team from its homeland.

Actually, someone just pointed out on Facebook that if the Oilers win they will pass the Penguins for the most cups won by any 67 expansion team. May have to reconsider supporting the Oilers after all.

[JGibson]

Go Oilers and bring the Cup back home to Canada!

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Bye Rangers!

Officially rooting for the Oilers as I really want to see Connor McDavid raise the cup. Long overdue and well deserved. Leon Draisaitl too.

Not a hockey fan but I agree. It's been a long time since the Stanley Cup belonged to a team from its homeland.

I agree, as the NHL stole the divisional round from the Bruins in order to grow the hockey market in one of the biggest sports cities in the nation.