Last week, bombshell of news dropped announcing that the Arizona Coyotes will be playing their final games in the desert as they brace themselves for a relocation in Salt Lake City, Utah for the 2024-25 NHL season. Despite this heartbreak, the NHL generously gave the state of Arizona a chance to get a hockey team back in their state shall a new arena be built in the next five years.
Awesome news for Arizona, however this will be a whole new team, as the current Arizona Coyotes players and staff will be heading to Salt Lake. Shall hockey come back to Arizona, they will have to go through the same process an expansion team would, with an expansion draft and new colors, logo, etc.