Connecticut governor has group prepared to buy Coyotes, bring back the Whalers.

A major political figure in the state of Connecticut is making a lot of noise about the return of the Hartford Whalers.

In a recent interview with News 8 WTNH, Connecticut governor Ned Lamont made some very bold statements regarding the potential return of the former NHL franchise. Lamont made it clear that, due to the current struggles of the Arizona Coyotes, he saw a future in which the Whalers would one day return to Hartford.

"I'm working it hard," admitted Lamont when asked about bringing the Coyotes to Hartford. "I've talked to Gary Bettman... right now the Coyotes don't have a place to play on a permanent basis so they are looking around trying to find options. Connecticut is definitely on the radar screen."

Lamont went on to claim that he had an ownership group in place ready to buy the Coyotes and relocate them to Hartford, as well as a development group interested in building around a new arena, but did admit that there would be some things that they needed to do before being considered a legitimate option by Bettman and the NHL.

"We're gonna have to step up," admitted Lamont. "We're gonna have to show that we can sell the luxury suites, we're gonna have to show that we've got a buyer group if they wanna make a change, we gotta show that we're ready to upgrade the XL Center to make sure that's it's NHL ready and I think we can do all 3 of those things."

Lamont's administration has already committed $80 million to upgrading the XL Center but admitted that would not be nearly enough to get the arena NHL ready.

"Nope," admitted Lamont with no hesitation. "It's enough to get started, it's enough for us to do all the lower luxury suites.. NHL is gonna cost a lot more than that to bring it up to NHL standards."

Lamont added that if the Whalers returned to Hartford they would get the XL Center NHL ready.

"We get the Whalers back we'll do it," said the governor.