Arizona Coyotes bid farewell to the desert after 5-2 win over Edmonton Oilers

The Arizona Coyotes defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a 5-2 score in the final National Hockey League game at Mullett Arena in Tempe, AZ on Wednesday evening.

The Coyotes franchise is slated to relocate this summer to Salt Lake City, Utah this offseason under the ownership of Ryan Smith, who already controls the NBA’s Utah Jazz. The team is expected to join the Jazz at the Delta Center until a new multi-purpose arena is built.

But on Wednesday, the Coyotes still had a game to play. They fed off the energy created by the sellout crowd of 4,600 inside the Mullett, which alternated between chants of “Let’s go Coyotes” and “Salt Lake sucks” all night long.

Fans brought signs thanking the Coyotes for their 28 years in the desert — or, in some cases, vilifying owner Alex Meruelo, who is reportedly deep in the process of selling the team to its new Utah-based backers.

On the ice, five different Coyotes players scored goals in the team’s 36th and final win of the 2023–24 season. Lawson Crouse, the longest-tenured Coyote, scored the winning goal; Dylan Guenther, arguably the team’s top young player, racked up a goal and an assist.

After the final buzzer sounded, the Coyotes lined up to pay their respects to longtime equipment manager Stan Wilson, who originally moved with the team from Winnipeg all the way back in 1996. Coyotes players remained on the ice at Mullett Arena for nearly an hour after the game to thank the fans, sign autographs, and take in the moment.

The Coyotes players salute their biggest supporters-the people who’ve been fans of this team for 27 years. pic.twitter.com/OQS2Mcb0IF

— PHNX Coyotes (@PHNX_Coyotes) April 18, 2024

Coyotes legend Shane Doan was in attendance for the final game at Mullett Arena and was even presented with his own retired number banner, which the Coyotes inexplicably left behind in Glendale when they were packing up back in 2022.

Josh Doan, Shane’s son, skated in his 11th NHL game of the season on Thursday. Much like his father, who debuted with the original Winnipeg Jets in their final season, the younger Doan is staring down the prospect of starting anew in only his second NHL campaign.

“Amongst this group, obviously, there’s no hate toward Salt Lake City because they’re welcoming us with open arms,” Doan, who has nine points in 11 NHL contests, said after the game. “We don’t want there to be hate from the fans here toward them. The people there had nothing to do with it.”

The move signals the end (for now) of the NHL’s three decades in Arizona, a run which featured far more lows than highs. The Coyotes reached the Western Conference Final in 2012 but made the playoffs just once in the decade after that, during which they were also banished from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ and forced to bunk in with the Arizona State University men’s hockey team at Mullett Arena.

Meruelo has made multiple attempts to secure a permanent long-term home for an NHL franchise in Arizona. Even with the franchise set to transfer to Smith in the coming weeks, Meruelo is still expected to participate in an auction for a 100-acre parcel of land in Phoenix on June 27.

Even if Meruelo is successful in purchasing the land, it remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to build an arena, secure an expansion team, or — most importantly — win back the trust of the Coyotes fanbase. It’ll take a lot of time and effort for Meruelo and his associates to restore any goodwill toward them among hockey fans in Arizona.