Coyotes players and staff confront owners, hold tense meeting about plans to move into 5,000 seat arena

From the moment word began leaking out that the Arizona Coyotes were considering moving into ASU's 5,000 capacity arena, I couldn't believe it would actually happen.

Of course an NHL team wouldn't be allowed to play in a college rink, right? Surely Gary Bettman wouldn't allow this, right? Surely the NHLPA wouldn't allow this, right? Wrong on both counts, apparently.

The NHL has approved the Coyotes' short term plans while they pursue a more long-term plan in the Tucson area. That seems absolutely insane to me and I still refuse to believe that the players will simply go along with the plan. To that end, the Coyotes players and staff held a meeting with team ownership facilitated by NHLPA head Mathieu Schneider earlier this week. It's clear that the players aren't happy with things and they want ownership to answer some questions.

More from Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman:

Last Saturday, the Arizona players and staff held a meeting with Coyotes president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez. NHLPA special assistant Mathieu Schneider attended, and I reached out to him after hearing about it. It was intense, with a lot of tough questions. Gutierrez didn’t duck anything, trying to answer as best he could, but, as Schneider said, “There aren’t any good answers for the players in the short term.”

There’s not much the NHLPA can really do to block the move to the small Arizona State arena, but players did ask: “How did it come to this?”

There were a lot of questions about next year, with the Coyotes hopeful there wouldn’t be a long road trip to start the season. One of the things players asked is if they’d have to change at the rink and bus to practices. The team said it hopes to know about the proposed arena in Tempe in the next 60 days, with sources estimating it could come up in council in April.

“The average career length is less than five years,” Schneider said. “Ninety per cent of the current Coyotes won’t be here to see (a new arena).”

Schneider added that, during his 1,289-game career, he played in some tough situations (Atlanta, the arena issues on Long Island), so he understands how it affects players. “They have to communicate with their players, early and often. It will be better for the organization in the long term. If they don’t take care of their players, it won’t matter if they get a new building or not.”

It’s still unclear what happens if the arena is not approved.

- Elliotte Friedman

Honestly... what are we doing here?

It's clear that this team has failed miserably in the Arizona desert, why why WHY are we still trying to make this work after 25 years of failure? Enough already...