The Arizona Coyotes’ future is once again in question after the City of Glendale voted to terminate its arena-management agreement with the franchise last night.
Coyotes co-owner, president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc has vowed to “exhaust any and all legal remedies against the City of Glendale for this blatant violation of its contractual obligations to us.” That includes filing for injunctive relief, according to the team’s website.
On Thursday the NHL issued the following statement, per Fox Sports’ Craig Morgan:
“The National Hockey League stands by, and will fully support the Arizona Coyotes in their efforts to vindicate their contractual rights in response to last night’s outrageous and irresponsible action by the City of Glendale.
“We continue to proceed on the basis that the Coyotes will remain in Glendale and will be playing their home games at Gila River Arena.”
We will have to see how quickly the legal matters unfold. Arizona was in line for a busy summer as the squad needs to spend roughly $19 million just to get to the cap floor (if the ceiling is $71 million). However, if where the team will play in the near future is once again in question, then the Coyotes might have trouble luring free agents.