Vaughn Coyotes?

Recently, the idea of Phoenix relocating to the GTA has got a lot of newspapers and bloggers speculating the when and how the coyotes plan to move. But what they haven't touched on yet is the how much?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a territory claim on almost all of the GTA and Southern Ontario (whether or not the Buffalo Sabres have territory control over the Niagara peninsula is debatable). And if the Phoenix Coyotes eventually make the move into the GTA , hefty territory rights fees are going to need to be paid.

Keep in mind, Toronto's fan territory has been uncontested for almost 90 years now, and leafs nation is one of the strongest, biggest fan bases in all of the NHL. So what would it take for Phoenix (or Vaughn I suppose, for that seems to be the city that the rumor mill is circulating) to buy a portion of leafs nation?

Personally, I don't see this ending well. I can see Toronto asking for something along the lines of 3 or 4 first round draft picks and about 250 million dollars, as well as some other minor details just for the team to relocate into their territory. From then, the Coyotes organization will be broke, and reliant on a terrible at best team until the territory rights are paid off.

On the plus side, tickets to NHL games in that arena would be dirt cheap, but when you think about it, the last thing Ontario needs is another hopeless NHL franchise.

"TICKETS FOR BOOZE".. sounds good to me!

The Phoenix Coyotes most recent attempt to save a struggling franchise consisted of a marketing campaign that sported the slogan "TICKETS FOR BOOZE".  In conjunction with Smirnoff Vodka, the promotion stated that if you were to buy a 1.75l bottle from any local retailer, you would get a free game ticket for the April 7th matchup against the St. Louis Blues.

The Coyotes are well on their way to missing the post season for a sixth consecutive season, and have been hit hard by the recent economic changes. After already receiving support from the National Hockey League and the City of Glendale, AZ to try and keep this franchise a float, this was just one more attempt that failed miserably after the NHL stepped in and shut the operation down.

All the pieces seemed to be in place for this organization to be successful. Wayne Gretzky behind the bench, a brand new, top notch facility, a team stacked full of young talent with the likes of Kyle Turris, Mikkel Boedker, Martin Hanzal, Keith Yandle, Peter Mueller and a few seasoned vets in Shane Doan, Steven Reinprecht and Ed Jovanovski.  But after a good start to the season the club has cooled off remarkably and once again found themselves in position for a lottery pick.

 

Hey, if that's what it's going to take save this franchise, then why not? Who wouldn't want to play in front of a packed house of drunk and rowdy fans? I would have to think that would be a great atmosphere to play in. After all, Commissioner Bettman is all for trying to make things work in the cities in which teams are already located, and has stated time and time again that he isn't a fan of relocation. But then again there has to be some sort of standard set when you just have to call it quits and count your losses. I for one am still waiting for the Commissioner to realize that this is just not a hockey market and that relocation would be the best bet here. This piss poor attempt even falls much lower than the Florida Panthers attempt to boost attendance by offering a free game ticket to anyone in the State of Florida who had a driver's license.

All I have to say it's probably a good thing Rick Tocchet is out of town or this could have been a real disaster.