The franchise formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes is preparing for the upcoming 2024 NHL draft as it navigates its move to Salt Lake City next season.
Utah, which owns the No. 6 pick in the draft, reportedly got a bit creative while conducting interviews with prospects during this weekend’s NHL scouting combine in Buffalo.
The Athletic’s Arpon Basu reported Saturday that Utah’s front office was asking prospects for their Uber passenger rating.
A passenger rating on the Uber app is given by drivers after a ride is completed. Drivers give a grade of one through five stars based on the passenger’s timeliness, cleanliness and courtesy throughout the ride. Perhaps Utah’s front office considers that number a glimpse into prospect’s personality off the ice.
Aside from which prospect it’ll select with the No. 6 pick, Utah has plenty to figure out before next season begins. Earlier this week, Utah released six team names currently up for fan vote to decide the franchise’s nickname—down to the Utah Hockey Club, Blizzard, Venom, Mammoth, Outlaws and Yeti. Fans have the chance to vote on their favorite from last list until June 20.
Regardless of which team name earns the most fan votes, the club will simply wear “Utah” on its uniforms next season. The new nickname and branding will debut during the 2025-26 campaign.
Utah will make its draft choice after the San Jose Sharks (No. 1 pick), Chicago Blackhawks (No. 2), Anaheim Ducks (No. 3), Columbus Blue Jackets (No. 4) and Montreal Canadiens (No. 5) are on the clock. The draft will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28 and 29.
The Kraken are cruising into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after stunning the reigning champion Avalanche in Sunday’s Game 7 to punch their ticket to the semifinals.It was a historic series...
An old hockey cliché says if you get pucks on net, you’ll give yourself a chance to win. Well, the Edmonton Oilers struggled mightily to get pucks on net in Game 6 of their series against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, but they still came away with the victory and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Oilers managed just 10 shots on goal, while the Stars recorded 35. But Edmonton won 2–1, becoming just the third team in NHL history to win a playoff game while recording 10 or fewer shots on goal.
When scoring chances are in short supply, it helps to have a player who’s capable of turning nothing into something—and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid does just that. McDavid scored the first goal of the game with an incredible display of individual skill, dancing through the Dallas defense with some spectacular stickhandling before burying a backhand shot. (McDavid also assisted on the Oilers’ second goal, scored by Zach Hyman.)
“Hockey’s hard, you know? You need a lot of things to go right,” Stars center Tyler Seguin said after the game. “You need to have the opportunity. We had the opportunity. We went through a gauntlet and beat some really good teams and knew we had something special.
“We lost to a team we thought we could beat, and sometimes that’s [the] playoffs. Sometimes it’s that one bounce, one goal, one save. It’s why we all love it and it’s why this is the hardest damn trophy in the world to win.”
The Stars had been carried during these playoffs by star goalie Jake Oettinger. Over the first 16 games of the postseason (through Game 3 of the Edmonton series), Oettinger had a 2.09 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. But he allowed four goals on 28 shots in Game 4 and three goals on 26 shots in Game 5 before getting beaten twice in 10 tries in the series-clinching game Sunday.
Oettinger’s counterpart, meanwhile, was fantastic in the final three games of the series. Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner allowed just four goals in the last three games (all of which Edmonton won) and had an impressive .948 save percentage.
With the win, the Oilers advanced to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2006. Despite employing the best player in the world in McDavid, Edmonton had repeatedly fallen short in the playoffs, only advancing past the second round once in McDavid’s first eight seasons. And at the beginning of this season, it looked like the Oilers were destined for more disappointment. They won just two of their first 10 games, leading to the firing of coach Jay Woodcroft. But then they got hot—really hot. They went 26–6 in their first 32 games under new coach Kris Knoblauch, a stretch that included a 16-game winning streak, one game shy of the all-time NHL record.
The Oilers are great, but they’ll have their hands full in a Final matchup against the Florida Panthers, who finished the regular season tied for the second most wins in the NHL. Game 1 of that series will be in Florida on Saturday.
Osaka was one of the standouts in the first week at the French Open. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Coyotes are currently history, having suspended operations on April 18 as the NHL transferred their assets to a new team in Utah.
In the midst of this new reality, the postmortems of the Coyotes' dysfunctional tenure are just beginning. During their 28-year stay in the desert, Arizona advanced past the first round of the playoffs just once—making the Western Conference finals in 2012.
In the report, Kaplan and Wyshynski suggested the perennially cash-strapped Coyotes attempted to short-change businesses on various bills.
"Multiple sources told ESPN that the Coyotes were either late paying their hotel bills or sometimes just crossed out the total and paid a different amount," Kaplan and Wyshynski wrote. "Other sources indicated local businesses would come to the team seeking payments, would be offered a fraction of what was owed and then would be negotiated down to take less than what was actually owed."
"Having been in business for 40 years, you wouldn't be around if you didn't pay your bills. That's all I want to say about that," owner Alex Meruelo told ESPN, declining further comment.
Regardless of the outcome of the Coyotes' current limbo, it appears both the Utah franchise and a potentially reactivated Arizona franchise could benefit from a fresh start.