With the bombshell news dropped yesterday that the Arizona Coyotes are working on an agreement to sell and relocate to Salt Lake City, Frank Seravalli shines some light on what the timeline is moving forward for Alex Meruelo and the Arizona Coyotes franchise.
Tyler Yaremchuk: How long can the Coyotes really have this cone of silence and you’re still playing games and eventually have to let players speak to the media, does that put a bit more pressure to speed things up and get this done?
Frank Seravalli: I don’t think so. What we are talking about here is another week, the Coyotes’ final regular season home game is next week taking on the Edmonton Oilers at The Mullett Arena and is six days from now on April 17. I have been told for the last week to circle April 18 on the calendar and there is lots of evidence to support that it may or will be the case, that’s what agents were told at the NHLPA meeting on Tuesday.
Frank Seravalli: There is a whole host of stuff happening here in terms of timeline, but do the Coyotes players really need to answer for this? That seems foolish; I would like to hear from the Coyotes owner, or from Xavier Gutierrez who is the CEO or the NHL head office, let’s hear from a bunch of other people before sticking the microphone into the faces of Coyotes players who are pretty stunned over the developments in the last 24 hours. It’s not on them to answer it.
Tyler Yaremchuk: What are we hearing about players in Arizona who have signed contracts, guys who signed long-term deals to stay in Arizona and live there but now have to pack up and move to Utah? Do the players get anything here? Is there a way for a player to put up his hand and say, “Woah, I’m not going, I want out of my contract?” Can anything like that happen?
Frank Seravalli: Technically no, there is no protection, and you could always ask out of any situation that you’re in. I don’t really buy the argument that these guys signed a long-term deal expecting to stay in Arizona. There isn’t a single player that signed a contract with the Coyotes that’s under contract gith now that didn’t know there would be a greater than 0% chance this could happen. Secondly, for any player who signs a long-term deal, even if you get the no-movement clause and no-trade clause, if that team decides they don’t want you, they will find a way to move you. There are no guarantees, this is pro sports and this is life.
Frank Seravalli: Are families going to be uprooted and lose jobs? Yes and I’m sympathetic to that. But this idea of no trade clauses and all of that doesn’t hold any water for me. On top of that, there will be a relocation stipen that will help players with closing costs, moving and all the other stuff that goes with it, it will all be taken care of in due time. If any player at any time doesn’t want to go to Utah, ask Bill Armstrong or whoever the manager might be that you want out.
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