What the Arizona Coyotes move means for the Colorado Avalanche
Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images
Change is a-comin’ in the Wild Wild West. On the 11th anniversary of the death of the Atlanta Thrashers, another hockey team’s demise looks to be on the horizon. Bombshell news struck Wednesday with loud rumors of the Arizona Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City.
BREAKING: Sources tell @DailyFaceoff- NHL, Arizona Coyotes & Smith Entertain. Grp have made significant progress on the framework of an agreement to relocate #Yotes to Salt Lake City, Utah.#NHL memo updated Governors today. NOT done. Many layers and lawyers. Much work to do.— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 10, 2024
While the move isn’t official yet, it looks all but likely to happen. With this news coming out just days after the Coyotes announced new stadium plans in the North-metro area of Phoenix, who knows what actually ends up happening?
Regardless, if the move does go through, it can mean some drastic changes are coming for the Western Conference. There would also be a significant impact geographically for hockey in the Rocky Mountain region.
So, what does this all mean for the Colorado Avalanche?
First on the regional impact: the Avs just might have a true “geographic rival.” We’ve seen Colorado and Arizona have their moments in a rivalry before, and they’ve been chippy ever since the Yotes moved to the Central Division. A move just West of the mountains would set up quite the rivalry.
Nathan MacKinnon got a 10-min misconduct for tossing Conor Garland's helmet at him. pic.twitter.com/HdQHogvSut— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 1, 2021
We’ve already seen this in other leagues. The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets always play tough games against one another and are toward the top of the West in the NBA. Meanwhile, in the MLS, there is an entire rivalry named between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids. They play for a trophy every year called the “Rocky Mountain Cup,” which sadly the Rapids have been on the losing end of as of late. Hence, a consistent division rivalry matchup between the Avalanche and a team in Salt Lake City would make for some fun.
Perhaps the biggest surprise from this projected move though is a realignment of divisions. According to Travis Yost of TSN, the move from Arizona to Utah would force both the new team in Salt Lake and the Avalanche to move to the Pacific Division and would make the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames move to the Central Division.
Best guess is NHL moves Colorado and Salt Lake to the Pacific, Alberta goes Central. https://t.co/cFbG1Ztgje— Travis Yost (@travisyost) April 10, 2024
The move would be a bit odd, considering Arizona is the state just South of Utah. Alberta, where both Edmonton and Calgary are, is much farther North than both of those states and more West than Colorado. Hence, the move would be odd, especially considering travel for both the Flames and Oilers would be rough for the other Central Division teams.
If both the Avs and SLC team move to the Pacific, it would mean Colorado would have a lot more late puck drops. It would also make travel a little bit easier out West rather than to the other Central Division teams, easier for back-to-backs, and at least have one other team consistently in the Mountain Time zone.
It would make things interesting for Colorado, with multiple matchups a season against teams like the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, and Vegas Golden Knights. The apparent reason as to why the move would be made would be for clusters of travel, with it being easier to go through Denver, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas, plus it would be great for TV, according to Yost.
Two core reasons reformatting is well alive:- They’ll want to cluster Denver/Vegas/SLC- Houston https://t.co/Z6OVD9WtEf— Travis Yost (@travisyost) April 10, 2024
This would certainly be an impactful move by the league to change the division for both the Avs and Yotes. It seems to signal more expansion teams are coming in the future (Houston or Kansas City, for example), and the moves are preparing just as such.
All of these possible moves and expansions will be determined down the line. While the Yotes look likely to be moving on from the desert, we’ll see if it has much more impact outside of a “geographical rival” for the Avalanche.
What do you think of the move for Arizona and their team? Will the move end up having a massive effect on the Avs? Let us know in the comments below!...
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