The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They have competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and the Pacific Division (1998–2020) in the Western Conference, and the West Division (2020–2021). They played at America West Arena (now Mortgage Matchup Center) in downtown Phoenix from 1996 to 2003, at Glendale's Gila River Arena (now Desert Diamond Arena) from 2003 to 2022, and at Mullett Arena in Tempe from 2022 to 2024. The organization was established on July 1, 1996, as an expansion team after the players, coaches and staff of the original Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix. The franchise was renamed the Arizona Coyotes on June 27, 2014.
The team failed to gain long-term stability despite the relocation to Arizona, enduring multiple changes in ownership and struggling for a profitable arena for home games. The NHL took over the Phoenix Coyotes franchise in 2009 when then-owner Jerry Moyes gave up the team after filing for bankruptcy. The NHL maintained control of the franchise until 2013, when they found new ownership willing to keep it in Arizona. Alex Meruelo became the majority owner on July 29, 2019, later becoming the franchise's sole owner following the arrest of minority owner Andrew Barroway.
The Coyotes had a difficult working relationship with the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, and negotiations with the city deteriorated in 2021. The team subsequently signed an agreement to play their games at Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University, starting with the 2022–23 season. The arrangement was intended to be brief, lasting only until a new arena was built in Tempe, but the arena proposal was rejected by the city's residents in May 2023.
Amid growing pressure to resolve the arena situation and to find an alternative to a college arena considered too small even for temporary usage, the Coyotes suspended hockey operations following the conclusion of the 2023–24 season. In a deal brokered by the NHL, the Coyotes were essentially split in half. The team's hockey assets (players, staff, and draft picks) were transferred to the Utah Hockey Club (now the Utah Mammoth), an expansion franchise awarded at the same time to Ryan Smith and based in Salt Lake City. The Coyotes' name, history, and other intellectual property were initially retained by Meruelo, who had intended to build a new arena in Arizona by 2029. Meruelo relinquished his franchise rights and intellectual property to the NHL following a failed land auction for a new arena site in June 2024.
On September 24, 2026, the Coyotes were retconned as a 1996 expansion team after the NHL consolidated the franchise records and statistics of the original Winnipeg Jets with the current Jets, who began play as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999.
History
Establishment of the team In October 1995, Minnesota businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke purchased the Winnipeg Jets with plans to move their assets to Minneapolis–St. Paul, which had lost the Minnesota North Stars in 1993, for the 1996–97 season. However, in December, they were unable to secure a lease at Minneapolis's Target Center. Instead, they opted to move the Jets to Phoenix, instead. Minnesota was ultimately awarded an expansion team in 1997, the Minnesota Wild.
Following the Jets' deactivation at the conclusion of the 1995–96 season, the assets of the Winnipeg Jets were transferred to a new expansion team in Arizona. After the franchise considered "Mustangs", "Outlaws", "Wranglers", and "Freeze", a name-the-team contest yielded the official name "Coyotes". At the time, the name was largely seen as play on the Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, since Phoenix was home to several minor league teams and one short-lived WHA team called the Phoenix Roadrunners, including an International Hockey League (IHL) team that was playing there in 1996. However, "Coyotes" was considered suitable in any case since the coyote is endemic to the whole of Arizona, unlike the roadrunner, which is only found in the southern and western regions of the state. The Roadrunners only played one more season before leaving Phoenix; however, the Coyotes later revived the "Roadrunners" nickname for their American Hockey League affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
Early years (1996–2005) In the summer, the team added established superstar Jeremy Roenick from the Chicago Blackhawks, in exchange for trading Alexei Zhamnov. Roenick teamed up with power wingers Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet to form a dynamic 1–2–3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like Shane Doan (he eventually was the last remaining player from the team's days in Winnipeg), Oleg Tverdovsky, and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall".
Another key addition to the squad was veteran forward Mike Gartner, who had joined from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite his experience and scoring his 700th career goal on December 15, 1997, Gartner battled injuries in the latter half of the 1997–98 season. The Coyotes did not renew his contract and he retired at the end of the season. After arriving in Phoenix, the team posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons, making the playoffs in every year but one. The one time they did not make the playoffs, in 2000–01, they became the first team to earn 90 points and miss the playoffs.
The Coyotes' original home, America West Arena, was suboptimal for hockey. Although considered a state-of-the-art arena when built for the Phoenix Suns, it was designed specifically as a basketball venue, with sight lines optimized for the smaller playing surface of that sport, and not with hockey in mind. The floor was just barely large enough to fit a standard NHL rink, forcing the Coyotes to hastily re-engineer it to accommodate the 200-foot rink. The configuration left a portion of one end of the upper deck hanging over the boards and ice, obscuring almost a third of the rink and one goal from several sections. As a result, listed capacity had to be cut down from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000 – the second-smallest in the league at the time – after the first season.
Burke bought out Gluckstern in 1998 but was unable to attract more investors to alleviate the team's financial woes. In 2001, Burke sold the team to Phoenix-area developer Steve Ellman, with Wayne Gretzky as a part-owner and head of hockey operations.
The closest that they came to advancing past the first round during their first decade in Arizona was during the 1999 playoffs. After building a 3–1 series lead, the Coyotes fell in overtime of game 7 on a goal by Pierre Turgeon of the St. Louis Blues. In 2002, the Coyotes posted 95 points, one point behind their best total as an NHL team while in Winnipeg, but went down rather meekly to the San Jose Sharks in five games.
From then until the 2007–08 season, the Coyotes were barely competitive and managed to break the 80-point barrier only once during that time. Attendance levels dropped considerably, worrying many NHL executives. In addition, an unfavorable arena lease at city-owned America West Arena had the team suffering massive financial losses (as much as $40 million a year at one point); the Coyotes have yet to recover from the resulting financial problems.
Ellman put forward numerous proposals to improve the hockey sightlines in America West Arena in hopes of boosting capacity back over the 17,000 mark. However, none of these got beyond the planning stages, leading Ellman to commit to building a new arena. After nearly three years of proposals to build an arena on the former Los Arcos Mall in Scottsdale and having difficulty financing the purchase of the Coyotes and finishing demolition of Los Arcos, along with infighting in the Scottsdale City Council, Ellman looked toward the West Valley, and in December 2003, the team moved into Glendale Arena (which then became known as Jobing.com Arena during the 2006–07 NHL season). Simultaneously, the team changed its logo and uniforms, moving from the multi-colored kit to a more streamlined look. In 2005, Ellman sold the Coyotes, the National Lacrosse League's Arizona Sting and the lease to Gila River Arena to trucking magnate Jerry Moyes, who was also a part-owner of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks.
Gretzky era (2005–2009) On August 6, 2005, Brett Hull, son of former Jet Bobby Hull, was signed and promptly assigned the elder Hull's retired number 9. Two days later, Gretzky named himself head coach, replacing Rick Bowness, despite the fact he had never coached at any level of hockey. The Coyotes "Ring of Honor" was unveiled on October 8, inducting Gretzky (who had never played for the organization, but whose number 99 was retired by all NHL teams after his retirement in 1999) and Bobby Hull. Only a week later, Brett Hull announced his retirement. On January 21, 2006, Jets great Thomas Steen was the third inductee to the "Ring of Honor".
Another moment in a series of bad luck: the Coyotes were planning to host the 2006 NHL All-Star Game, but the event was canceled because of the 2006 Winter Olympics. The team returned to Winnipeg on September 17, 2006, to play a preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers, but were shut-out 5–0 before a sellout crowd of 15,015.
On April 11, 2007, chief executive officer Jeff Shumway announced that General Manager Michael Barnett (Gretzky's agent for over 20 years), senior executive vice president of hockey operations Cliff Fletcher and San Antonio Rampage's general manager and Coyotes' assistant general manager Laurence Gilman "have been relieved of their duties". The Coyotes finished the 2006–07 season 31–46–5, their worst record since relocating to Phoenix. On May 29, Jeff Shumway announced Don Maloney had agreed to a multi-year contract to become general manager of the Coyotes. As per club policy, the terms of the contract were not disclosed. However, as had been the case with all general managers since 2001, Maloney served in an advisory role to Gretzky.
The 2007–08 season was something of a resurgence for the Coyotes. After their disastrous 2006–07 campaign, the Coyotes looked to rebuild the team by relying on their drafted talent such as Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal to make the team successful as opposed to using free agency. The Coyotes also acquired Radim Vrbata from the Chicago Blackhawks for Kevyn Adams in an effort to provide the team with more offense. The team signed both Alex Auld and David Aebischer to compete for the starting goaltender position with Mikael Tellqvist acting as the backup goaltender. Neither Auld or Aebischer were able to hold on to the starting position, leaving the Coyotes to turn to the waiver wire for assistance. On November 17, 2007, the Coyotes were able to claim Ilya Bryzgalov off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks. Bryzgalov responded by not only starting in goal the day he was acquired but posting a shutout in his Coyotes debut against the Los Angeles Kings. Bryzgalov was soon given a three-year contract extension because of his high level of play. Despite predictions of another disastrous season, the Coyotes played competitive hockey for most of the season. However, they finished eight points short of the last playoff spot, with 83 points.
Return to the playoffs and division title (2009–2012) On September 24, 2009, Dave Tippett took over coaching duties of the Phoenix Coyotes after Wayne Gretzky stepped down hours before. In just 61 games, Tippett led the Coyotes to more wins in their 2009–10 regular season (37) than their previous season (36), en route to the first 50-win season in the franchise's NHL history.