Coyotes on the Prowl for a New Home

Full disclosure: I am not a hockey fan.

The Phoenix Coyotes seem like they have scored their last goal at the Jobing.com Arena. Last week the Coyotes ownership group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They are the first team in the "new economy" do so, but apparently there are more that could follow. This opens the possibility for the NHL to do one of two interesting things to their league.

They could either let the team fold and move on with one less club, have the dispersal draft to assign those players and continue with life. What they will probably do is option B, find an ownership group that is willing to throw away millions of dollars, move the team to a new city, make a successful transition for 3 to 5 years and then appeal to the local government for either a new stadium or funding to bail them out because they haven't made the type of money they thought they would by owning a professional sports team.

Since the NHL isn't about to think outside the box, the question becomes, where does the team move? Here are my top 5 potential locations;

5. Quebec City - Since the loss of the Nordiques, QC has had to depend on heritage festival and "Crashed Ice" competitions. The return of hockey to this hotbed of amateur hockey would be great and just think if they brought back the baby blues.

4. Kitchener/Waterloo - This southwestern Ontario city is a front runner for a team because the guy with the most money wants to buy the team and his offices are in the KW area. The KW area would have some big trouble supporting a pro team. The biggest industry is RIM, but after that it is based on two universities. I don't think that the Delta frat is buying a suite.

3. Cleveland - The former home to the Barons from 1976 to 78, the Cleveland area has made many improvements to its downtown core, building new stadiums, the rock and roll hall of fame and fixing up the waterfront area. A coldweather city without any real competition from other hockey franchises. A great natural rivalry with Pittsburgh, the Cleveland hockey team could work.

2. Winnipeg - The Coyotes were moved from Winnipeg to Phoenix, why not move them back? The reason the Jets didn't work was an old stadium that didn't work in the then blossoming NHL. They needed more corporate assistance, better suites, etc...well with the construction of the new MTS Centre, they got all that. It seats 15 000 fans for hockey and everyone knows that the fan support is there. Bring back the white out!

1. Toronto - The only city that could actually make this franchise successful. The hockey fans in the city (almost everyone) would suck Jim Ballsillie off in the middle of the street if he brought the team to Toronto. There is no reason for it not to work. Major media is all here in the big smoke, the newspapers could divide the teams like they do political parties, fans that haven't seen a winning team since 1967 could jump ship, and dads who don't want their sons to be subject to another 40 years of losing could steer them to cheer for the Coyotes. As for the stadium issue, expanding the Richoh Coliseum is probably out of the question, but either the Hersey Centre in Mississauga or the General Motors Centre in Oshawa would be happy to cooperate with expansion plans.

Where do you think the Coyotes will land? One of the five choices I've provided or somewhere else (Hamilton)?