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Coyotes and NHLPA met to discuss 2022-23 season

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Cooper Godin
February 27, 2022  (0:28)
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The Arizona Coyotes are set to leave Gila River Arena at the end of the 2021-22 season because their lease with the City of Glendale is expiring. For the next three seasons, the Coyotes will be playing out of a new 5,000 seat arena at Arizona State University while the wait for a new permanent home to be built.

Some players around the league are concerned that they may have to pay more in escrow in order for the Coyotes to receive their fair amount of the revenue sharing for the 2022-23 season and beyond.

During the 32 Thoughts segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said the Coyotes and National Hockey League Players' Association have met to discuss the 2022-23 season and their plan to play at Arizona State University.

"I was told by a couple of people that it was a really blunt meeting," Friedman said. "The players asked a lot of pointed questions about how we've gotten to this point and how the future is going to work for the Coyotes.

Xavier Gutierrez, who is the team's president and CEO, answered the questions, and I heard he was pretty honest. As much as he could answer the questions — because I still think there are still a lot of unknowns — he answered them and tried to address the players' questions as much as he could, but the bottom line here is they still don't have a lot of answers.

Although it's been approved, there is still a chance that the Coyotes may not play at the new arena at ASU. In March or April, Tempe City Council is set to meet and vote on an arena development project for the Coyotes. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reported last month that the Coyotes currently don't have the votes in their favour. If that votes goes against their plan, the talk of relocation has to begin.

Friedman went on to add, "One of the things Schneider indicated was, look, 90 per cent of these players aren't going to be in the Coyotes lineup when the new building is ready, should it get built. Secondly, the thing he said was, look, they feel really in the dark, and if you don't build a rapport with these players now, it won't matter if you get a new building built because the reputation will be out that you keep your players in the dark.

I heard Gutierrez got the message and I think that he's going to answer all the questions that he possibly can, but it was really just a tough meeting between the Coyotes and the players, and it's pretty clear the players feel that they don't like the situation and they just wish there were a lot of better answers they can get towards it."

Arizona's last game at Gila River Arena, where they've called home since 2003, is set for Friday, April 29th against the Nashville Predators.

Source: Elliotte Friedman - 32 Thoughts

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