Salt Lake & the Coyotes. What impact does that have on Boise hockey?

Some very exciting news for our little part of the hockey world was recently announced. In a long awaited move that has been the topic of much gossip, the Arizona Coyotes will be leaving the desert and heading north to Salt Lake City, Utah. If/when the move is finalized, that would make the new Salt Lake team the closest NHL club to us here in Boise. With that move, hopefully some exciting new opportunities for the hockey world in these parts. The close proximity gives casual fans the opportunity to attend a live NHL game without having to get on a plane. It provides some competition for “favorite regional team” along with the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken. It will also create a boost for the hockey community in Salt Lake, creating new programming, new/updated facilities and a whole new generation of future NHL hopefuls.

Numerous years ago in a time we call the 90's, the franchise moving to SLC made their first move to the greater Phoenix area. I had just turned 16 and was getting ready to begin my junior hockey career with the Tri City Americans of the WHL. At that time in the NHL, Canadian market teams were struggling to compete with U.S. based clubs. This was before the invention of the salary cap and max rookie deals. The Winnipeg Jets had announced they were leaving the capital of Manitoba for Phoenix, Arizona. A major city in Canada had just lost its team because it could no longer afford it. The Winnipeg Arena was aging and salaries were steadily climbing. The "small market" of Winnipeg said goodbye to their beloved Jets and Arizona welcomed an NHL franchise.

The first coach of that Phoenix Coyotes was none other than my old man, Don Hay.
General manager John Paddock hired my dad that summer and we began our migration from Kamloops, B.C. to our new home in Scottsdale, AZ. It was a pretty interesting time in the Hay household. My father had just realized his dream of becoming an NHL head coach. Our family would be moving, from the one city & one house we had ever called "home." As I sat down to write this volume of "Deep-ish Thoughts,” I couldn't help but recall that before this move to Utah, the franchise departed Winnipeg for Phoenix. A sad night in Manitoba as the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Winnipeg Arena and players emotionally waved goodbye to their faithful clad in their signature “White Out” attire. A move that I saw first hand and one that started my family on a roller coaster of moves and new addresses.

I am personally looking forward to the NHL moving to Utah. Albeit, a little sad that it never quite got the support it needed to survive in Phoenix. It's heart breaking when you see a community lose a piece of itself. That said, it is business and as one of the biggest businesses, sports entertainment will always go to where it will be supported and funded. You see it in football and baseball with the Raiders and A’s moving to Las Vegas. If you don’t have a state of the art building with an organization friendly lease, teams look to bolt. I expect a huge shot in the arm to the hockey community inhabiting the Wasatch Range. If it is anything close to that the 2002 Winter Olympics, hockey will get a major boost in that area. It will join the Jazz as the only other major professional organization and start rumors of a new dual use building to hold both teams. A new building for both those teams would be really amazing to see, especially with all the advancements in building design over the past years. If it does come to fruition it will cement Salt Lake as a professional sports hub with some amazing viewing opportunities for us living in the 208 area code.

I see it now when we travel for our Jr Steelheads groups. With Salt Lake being one of the closest travel destinations, our teams spend a lot of time in this area. From exhibition games to tournaments, all our age groups spend time playing the multitude of teams & organizations that call Utah home.

One of the major reasons we travel here is that they have the ice facilities to support these programs. The 2002 Olympics helped build this infrastructure and the lasting effects have been huge for the hockey community in Salt Lake. Now add an NHL franchise to that mix and look for hockey to explode in that area. Hopefully, the ripples make its way up I-84 to Boise and we see some of that growth spill over to this area. I think we can all agree that the Treasure Valley could use many additional facilities to house our growing population and hockey community. Begs to question what happens with the ECHL and the Utah Grizzlies. Do the Coyotes move their AHL team to West Valley and house their primary farm team in their own backyard like the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks elect to do? Or do they keep it as an ECHL affiliate allowing the Steelheads/ Grizzlies rivalry to intensify? 

One of the things I am really excited about watching is seeing what it will do to the hockey community in SLC. I look at what the Coyotes time in Phoenix did for that area and I believe we have to appreciate the positive effects their tenure had in Arizona despite the imminent departure of their team. Other than some of the best uniforms we have ever seen (the Kachina logo is epic) there have been some major benefits to having an NHL team in the “Valley of the Sun.” I have 3 major ones I want to touch on to hopefully illustrate what may be coming to the Great Salt Lake. All things that I hope make its way north to Boise to positively impact our hockey community. 

3 lasting impacts of the Coyotes in Phoenix:

1. Auston Matthews: sitting at a NHL leading 69 goals at the time of this writing, Matthews may be the biggest export for the Coyotes time in the desert. Their impact in the area lead a young boy into the world of hockey and who now is arguably the biggest American born star in the NHL. In the entire history of the NHL, there have only been 8 Americans drafted in the number 1 position. Auston was the first from a warm weather, non traditional hockey state. Does that happen if the Coyotes aren't in Phoenix? Your guess is as good as mine but I think their presence in the area is a major reason we have a player of Matthews caliber now. His rise to stardom and the reverberations it has made in that area cannot be underestimated. When you have someone that grew up in that area doing what he does, it creates a culture of young people that believe it is possible. Are we going to have the next American born first overall pick come from Utah? Who knows, never thought I would see an Arizona kid score 70 so anything is on the table now.

2. The emergence of Arizona State University as D1 NCAA hockey powerhouse: as someone who is involved locally with the BSU Mens Hockey Club (ACHA 2) I pay particular attention to this. In late March, Josh Doan, a graduate of the hockey program at ASU made his NHL debut. Doan scored 2 goals in his first NHL game. Why is this important? Josh's father Shane, was part of the team that moved from Winnipeg in 1996. Shane is the franchise leader in every offensive category for the Coyotes and has his number 19 retired by the club. Shane played for my father that first season in Phoenix and he also played his junior hockey for him in Kamloops where they won 2 Memorial Cups together.
Small world the hockey one. The building of ASU into a bonafide D1 hockey program took much effort and many years to see to the level they are at now. As the primary tenants of Mullet Arena, the Sun Devils have been on a continuous upward trajectory since their debut in D1 hockey in 2015/16. As you can see by their success in adding NHL draft picks to their program.

I mean let's face it, receiving a scholarship to play D1 hockey at a renowned "party school” plus playing hockey in that climate would have me sign my "Letter of Intent" very quickly. Would this have happened without an NHL franchise being there? I would guess no. I believe when a community adopts a hockey culture, it looks to enhance it in all levels, collegiate included. Be interesting to see if any of the schools that have ACHA programs in the greater Salt Lake area make the jump to D1 in the near future. That would be an outstanding influence for our local kids to see and some great hockey to witness 5 hours down the road.

3. The growth and quality of their youth hockey programs: one thing that gets overlooked in these situations is the possible repercussions to the local youth hockey community. In 1996, when the Jets arrived from Winnipeg and transformed into the Coyotes, the greater Phoenix area is listed at 1.16 million in population. An interesting number when you look at our own growth here in Boise and the possible trajectory we could follow. My cohort with the 208 Hockey program and former Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy, Steve Klein said at present, the Arizona High School Hockey Association has "around" 42 high school hockey teams spanning 4 divisions (D1,D2,D3 & JV) When asked how many teams they had in 1996, he answered "8, probably less." That is a dramatic increase in almost 3 decades. I get that it includes the whole state when we throw out those numbers but I look at the tournament we just got back from in Dallas, Texas. Tournament champs were one of 2 Arizona entries. If a state like Arizona can become a hockey state, it gives me great hope for our little slice of heaven here in Idaho. 

 If and when this move becomes real, the ripples that will happen in Salt Lake will be large. Especially for hockey. As an area that plays Utah based hockey teams quite regularly I try to look at the big picture. Their growth and possible improvements means that we will need to raise our standards to develop players and teams that can compete on that level. I believe that is an incredible challenge for our community, especially those involved in hockey. It means we will have to find ways to build more arenas, develop more coaches, improve more players and strengthen an overall hockey community. I look at families like mine who moved to Phoenix to work in the Coyotes organization.
Our family was gone after one season because of a knuckle puck that Paul Kariya put past Nikolai Khabibulin's glove in game 6 of the NHL playoffs in 1997. That first round loss ended up getting my old man fired at the time. That’s neither here nor there. I look at the families that stayed. Management, coaches, players & support staff. Families that set up roots and got their kids into hockey. People that became pioneers, architects and builders of the youth program in Phoenix. Ex pros that became coaches and influenced the likes of Auston Matthews and so many others. 8 high school teams went to 42 and the quality of those programs now have them as a hockey power. Those ripples that started slowly, began to spread out and is a major reason why you see so many Arizona born players playing in “the Show.”

Just think what hockey is going to look like in Salt Lake in 3 decades with the arrival of their first ever NHL team. If we look at all the regions where hockey “expanded” to through the NHL, we see the amount of young people that got to witness hockey first hand. Southern California, Florida, Texas and Arizona to name a few. These places are now breeding grounds for top level youth players. I would bet dollars to donuts that it won't be very long before that happens near the waters of the Great Salt Lake.

As an Arizona raised player leads the NHL in goals and is about to pass 70, it’s hard not to think “what if?” I am starting to believe in the the not to distant future, we may hear a general manager walk to the podium at the NHL Entry draft and say,"we are proud to select, with the first overall pick in the 2037 NHL entry draft, from Salt Lake City...” 

 Written by Darrell Hay April 16/2024

About the author- Darrell is a coyote fan deep down. Growing up, he always held out hope the coyote would eventually catch the Road Runner. How can you not love a guy with that kind of conviction & persistence? DH would often wonder why Wile E. Coyote didn’t wise up and stop purchasing Acme Brand products. Was it budget constraints or was he a victim of brand loyalty? “Abba-dee, abba-dee, abba-dee, that’s all folks”