The Latest on the Phoenix Coyotes Sale, and What Comes Next

Looking more and more like a done deal. Can you believe it. If so, next up in the deal with it department, the New York Islanders. The people of Quebec City and Seattle are not happy with this news, for sure.

A done deal, finally

The post was short and satisfied. After months of scenarios built on a Phoenix relocation, the franchise was staying, which meant the map would have to find its new city somewhere else. The Islanders were the obvious next file, and the post said so before the links.

Expansion in two years, with what talent

The warning was not to scoff at the idea of expansion in two years. The author would not have been surprised by it, and had an answer ready for the standard objection. To those who say expansion, with what talent, the reply was another question: do you honestly think the league or the NHLPA give a puck about that?

That is the whole argument in one line. Expansion is a business decision before it is a hockey decision, and the queue of willing cities was getting longer while the league insisted nothing was happening.

Where the story was reported

The entry was a reading list rather than a report, pointing readers at the coverage of the expected announcement.

• The Sporting News, on the sale being complete at last and an announcement expected.
• USA Today, on the same expected announcement.
• The Arizona Republic's Glendale coverage.
• The Phoenix Business Journal, reporting that the NHL would announce the deal.
• Yahoo! Sports, citing an Associated Press source that an announcement was expected.

Why it mattered

Five outlets carrying the same expectation is not proof, but it is a signal, and the project treated it as one. The Coyotes were about to stop being the league's most portable franchise, and the next argument would be about who gets to join instead of who gets to leave.