Longtime NHL defender Anton Strålman has retired, as noted by Robin Olausson of Hockey Sverige. Neither he nor the NHL Alumni Association have made an official announcement, but he’s now joined Swedish women’s soccer club Skultorps IF as a coach, Olausson said. Strålman’s NHL career all but ended over a year ago. After managing to land ..read more

Free agent defenseman Alex Goligoski is hanging up his skates, he confirmed to Joe Smith of The Athletic. It’s the expected outcome after reports in June indicated he wasn’t expected back with the Wild, where he spent the final three seasons of his career. “I think I’ve known for a while,” Goligoski told Smith. “Do you hang ..read more

With former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo out of the picture, most have turned their focus to NBA Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia as the likeliest option to bring an NHL franchise back to the Phoenix area. Speaking with Sportico’s Barry M. Bloom, Ishbia confirmed acquiring an expansion franchise for Phoenix is something he’s “interested in ..read more

7/10: Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Meruelo has signed all necessary paperwork to relinquish his assets to the Arizona Coyotes. As of today, the National Hockey League owns all branding and intellectual property of the Coyotes’ franchise and can sell it to a prospective buyer. 6/25: Alex Meruelo, the owner of the inactive Coyotes franchise, informed staff yesterday that he’s walking away from the club, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports. The news comes less than a week after the Arizona State Land Department canceled an auction for a parcel of land Meruelo intended to use for a new a ..read more

Alex Meruelo, the owner of the inactive Coyotes franchise, informed staff yesterday that he’s walking away from the club, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports. The news comes less than a week after the Arizona State Land Department canceled an auction for a parcel of land Meruelo intended to use for a new arena for the franchise, which was officially deactivated this month after its hockey operations were sold to the Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group. Meruelo told Coyotes staff yesterday that the franchise has “no plans to pursue further arena options” after the canceled auction, per ..read more

The Arizona Coyotes have, for now, lost their last bit of hope for a new arena, with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) canceling the Phoenix land auction that was scheduled for June 27th, shares Craig Morgan of Go PHNX (Twitter link).  The Coyotes, now reduced to a short team behind ex-owner Alex Meruelo, were hoping that this land auction would provide the ground for their new arena – one fans have been waiting for since the Coyotes were booted from Gila River Arena in 2022. But once again, the Coyotes seem to be missing logistical steps, with the ASLD sharing that the Coyotes’ ar ..read more

Long-time Philadelphia Flyers winger Jakub Voráček has announced his retirement from playing in an exclusive March interview with Martina Jandová of Czechia’s Showtime Program. The 1,000-game veteran cited 12 concussions as the reason he can no longer play, describing four of the injuries as, “heavy”. This announcement brings an official end to Voracek’s career, something many speculated would happen after he accepted a job supporting Jaromir Jagr’s Kladno at the start of the season. Voráček said, “I started helping with the A team. [Jagr] called me in September to ask if I could help. So ..read more

With the franchise being relocated to Utah for next season, there aren’t many too transactions coming in the near-term future for the Coyotes.  However, there was one today as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve re-assigned center Conor Geekie to AHL Tucson. The 19-year-old was the 11th overall pick two years ago by Arizona, giving them another potential core piece up front.  Geekie got off to a dominant start this season with WHL Wenatchee, notching 20 goals and 29 assists in just 26 games before leaving to play for Canada at the World Juniors where he had three points in ..read more

Half the league has played their last games for the 2023-24 campaign, while the other half is gearing up for postseason action starting tomorrow. Either way, squads are making roster adjustments today, whether it’s assigning players back to the minors after their NHL seasons came to a close or recalling reinforcements for their playoff runs. We’ll keep track of all of today’s moves here: The Bruins have recalled center John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence. Both will be available for tomorrow’s Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs ..read more

The sale of the Arizona Coyotes to Utah has been formally approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli (Twitter link). The vote received unanimous support from the board, shares The Athletic’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link). The NHL has promptly released their first statement on this transition (Web link). This news brings a quiet end to the long-running saga surrounding the Coyotes search for a home in Arizona. The team has been pushing to build a new arena since their lease ended at Gila River Arena at the end of the 2021-22 season. They searched through many ..read more