The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They have competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and the Pacific Division (1998–2020) in the Western Conference, and the West Division (2020–2021). They played at America West Arena (now Mortgage Matchup Center) in downtown Phoenix from 1996 to 2003, at Glendale's Gila River Arena (now Desert Diamond Arena) from 2003 to 2022, and at Mullett Arena in Tempe from 2022 to 2024. The organization was established on December 27, 1971, as the Winnipeg Jets, a charter franchise of the World Hockey Association (WHA).
After seven WHA seasons, they were one of four organizations enfranchised by the NHL on June 22, 1979, when the WHA ceased operations. Due to financial troubles, the Jets were sold to American owners, who moved the team to Phoenix on July 1, 1996, where they were renamed the Phoenix Coyotes. The franchise was renamed the Arizona Coyotes on June 27, 2014.
The team failed to gain long-term stability despite the relocation to Arizona, enduring multiple changes in ownership and struggling for a profitable arena for home games. The NHL took over the Phoenix Coyotes franchise in 2009 when then-owner Jerry Moyes gave up the team after filing for bankruptcy. The NHL maintained control of the franchise until 2013, when they found new ownership willing to keep it in Arizona. Alex Meruelo became the majority owner on July 29, 2019, later becoming the franchise's sole owner following the arrest of minority owner Andrew Barroway.
The Coyotes had a difficult working relationship with the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, and negotiations with the city deteriorated in 2021. The team subsequently signed an agreement to play their games at Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University, starting with the 2022–23 season. The arrangement was intended to be brief, lasting only until a new arena was built in Tempe, but the arena proposal was rejected by the city's residents in May 2023.
Amid growing pressure to resolve the arena situation and to find an alternative to a college arena considered too small even for temporary usage, the Coyotes suspended hockey operations following the conclusion of the 2023–24 season. In a deal brokered by the NHL, the Coyotes were essentially split in half. The team's hockey assets (players, staff, and draft picks) were transferred to the Utah Hockey Club (now the Utah Mammoth), an expansion franchise awarded at the same time to Ryan Smith and based in Salt Lake City. The Coyotes' name, history, and other intellectual property were initially retained by Meruelo, who had intended to build a new arena in Arizona by 2029. Meruelo relinquished his franchise rights and intellectual property to the NHL following a failed land auction for a new arena site in June 2024.
Contents
History
Original Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)
The team began play as the Winnipeg Jets, one of the founding franchises in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets were the most successful team in the short-lived WHA, winning the Avco World Trophy, the league's championship trophy, three times and making the finals five out of the WHA's seven seasons. It then became one of the four teams admitted to the NHL as part of a merger when the financially struggling WHA folded in 1979.
However, the club was never able to translate its WHA success into the NHL after the merger. The merger's terms allowed the established NHL teams to reclaim most of the players that had jumped to the upstart league, and the Jets lost most of their best players in the ensuing reclamation draft. As a result, they finished last in the NHL during their first two seasons, including a nine-win season in 1980–81 that is still the worst in franchise history. However, they recovered fairly quickly, making the playoffs 11 times in the next 15 seasons, but the Jets only won two playoff series, largely because they were in the same division as the powerful Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. Because of the way the playoffs were structured for much of their Winnipeg run, the team was all but assured of having to defeat either the Oilers or the Flames (or both) to reach the conference finals. In 1984–85, for instance, they finished with the fourth-best record in the NHL with 96 points, at the time their best as an NHL team. However, they were swept by the Oilers in the division finals. Two seasons later, they dispatched the Flames in the first round, only to be swept again by the Oilers in the division finals. The franchise did not win another playoff series for 25 years.
The Jets ran into financial trouble when player salaries began spiraling up in the 1990s; this hit the Canadian teams particularly hard. Winnipeg was the second-smallest market in the NHL for most of the Jets' existence and became the smallest after the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995 to become the Colorado Avalanche. In addition, the club's home arena, Winnipeg Arena, was one of the smallest in the league, seating just under 15,400 people. It was over 40 years old and had no luxury suites. Despite strong fan support, owner Barry Shenkarow was forced to put the team on the market. Several attempts to keep the team in Winnipeg fell through.
Relocation to Phoenix
In October 1995, Minnesota businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke purchased the team with plans to move it to Minneapolis–St. Paul, which had lost the Minnesota North Stars in 1993, for the 1996–97 season. However, in December, after they were unable to secure a lease at Minneapolis's Target Center, they opted to move the Jets to Phoenix, instead. Minnesota was ultimately awarded an expansion team in 1997, the Minnesota Wild.
After the franchise considered "Mustangs", "Outlaws", "Wranglers", and "Freeze", a name-the-team contest yielded the official name "Coyotes". At the time, the name was largely seen as play on the Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, since Phoenix was home to several minor league teams and one short-lived WHA team called the Phoenix Roadrunners, including an International Hockey League (IHL) team that was playing there in 1996. However, "Coyotes" was considered suitable in any case since the coyote is endemic to the whole of Arizona, unlike the roadrunner, which is only found in the southern and western regions of the state. The Roadrunners only played one more season before leaving Phoenix; however, the Coyotes later revived the "Roadrunners" nickname for their American Hockey League affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
Early years in Phoenix (1996–2005)
In the summer, the team added established superstar Jeremy Roenick from the Chicago Blackhawks, in exchange for trading Alexei Zhamnov. Roenick teamed up with power wingers Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet to form a dynamic 1–2–3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like Shane Doan (he eventually was the last remaining player from the team's days in Winnipeg), Oleg Tverdovsky, and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall".
Another key addition to the squad was veteran forward Mike Gartner, who had joined from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite his experience and scoring his 700th career goal on December 15, 1997, Gartner battled injuries in the latter half of the 1997–98 season. The Coyotes did not renew his contract and he retired at the end of the season. After arriving in Phoenix, the team posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons, making the playoffs in every year but one. The one time they did not make the playoffs, in 2000–01, they became the first team to earn 90 points and miss the playoffs.
The Coyotes' original home, America West Arena, was suboptimal for hockey. Although considered a state-of-the-art arena when built for the Phoenix Suns, it was designed specifically as a basketball venue, with sight lines optimized for the smaller playing surface of that sport, and not with hockey in mind. The floor was just barely large enough to fit a standard NHL rink, forcing the Coyotes to hastily re-engineer it to accommodate the 200-foot rink. The configuration left a portion of one end of the upper deck hanging over the boards and ice, obscuring almost a third of the rink and one goal from several sections. As a result, listed capacity had to be cut down from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000 – the second-smallest in the league at the time – after the first season.
Burke bought out Gluckstern in 1998 but was unable to attract more investors to alleviate the team's financial woes. In 2001, Burke sold the team to Phoenix-area developer Steve Ellman, with Wayne Gretzky as a part-owner and head of hockey operations.
The closest that they came to advancing past the first round during their first decade in Arizona was during the 1999 playoffs. After building a 3–1 series lead, the Coyotes fell in overtime of game 7 on a goal by Pierre Turgeon of the St. Louis Blues. In 2002, the Coyotes posted 95 points, one point behind their best total as an NHL team while in Winnipeg, but went down rather meekly to the San Jose Sharks in five games.
Gretzky era (2005–2009)
On August 6, 2005, Brett Hull, son of former Jet Bobby Hull, was signed and promptly assigned the elder Hull's retired number 9. Two days later, Gretzky named himself head coach, replacing Rick Bowness, despite the fact he had never coached at any level of hockey. The Coyotes "Ring of Honor" was unveiled on October 8, inducting Gretzky (who had never played for the organization, but whose number 99 was retired by all NHL teams after his retirement in 1999) and Bobby Hull. Only a week later, Brett Hull announced his retirement. On January 21, 2006, Jets great Thomas Steen was the third inductee to the "Ring of Honor".
Another moment in a series of bad luck: the Coyotes were planning to host the 2006 NHL All-Star Game, but the event was canceled because of the 2006 Winter Olympics. The team returned to Winnipeg on September 17, 2006, to play a preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers, but were shut-out 5–0 before a sellout crowd of 15,015.
On April 11, 2007, chief executive officer Jeff Shumway announced that General Manager Michael Barnett (Gretzky's agent for over 20 years), senior executive vice president of hockey operations Cliff Fletcher and San Antonio Rampage's general manager and Coyotes' assistant general manager Laurence Gilman "have been relieved of their duties". The Coyotes finished the 2006–07 season 31–46–5, their worst record since relocating to Phoenix. On May 29, Jeff Shumway announced Don Maloney had agreed to a multi-year contract to become general manager of the Coyotes. As per club policy, the terms of the contract were not disclosed. However, as had been the case with all general managers since 2001, Maloney served in an advisory role to Gretzky.
The 2007–08 season was something of a resurgence for the Coyotes. After their disastrous 2006–07 campaign, the Coyotes looked to rebuild the team by relying on their drafted talent such as Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal to make the team successful as opposed to using free agency. The Coyotes also acquired Radim Vrbata from the Chicago Blackhawks for Kevyn Adams in an effort to provide the team with more offense. The team signed both Alex Auld and David Aebischer to compete for the starting goaltender position with Mikael Tellqvist acting as the backup goaltender. Neither Auld or Aebischer were able to hold on to the starting position, leaving the Coyotes to turn to the waiver wire for assistance. On November 17, 2007, the Coyotes were able to claim Ilya Bryzgalov off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks. Bryzgalov responded by not only starting in goal the day he was acquired but posting a shutout in his Coyotes debut against the Los Angeles Kings. Bryzgalov was soon given a three-year contract extension because of his high level of play. Despite predictions of another disastrous season, the Coyotes played competitive hockey for most of the season. However, they finished eight points short of the last playoff spot, with 83 points.
Return to the playoffs and division title (2009–2012)
On September 24, 2009, Dave Tippett took over coaching duties of the Phoenix Coyotes after Wayne Gretzky stepped down hours before. In just 61 games, Tippett led the Coyotes to more wins in their 2009–10 regular season (37) than their previous season (36), en route to the first 50-win season in the franchise's NHL history.
On March 27, 2010, the Coyotes clinched a playoff spot, their first playoff spot since the 2001–02 season, and in the process, reached the 100-point mark for the first time ever as an NHL team, and the first time overall since the 1977–78 (WHA) Jets scored 102 points. They finished with 107 points, the highest point total in the franchise's 38-year history. This was good enough for fourth overall in the NHL, tying the 1984–85 Jets for the franchise's highest finish as an NHL team. They also qualified for the fourth seed in the Western Conference, giving them a home-ice advantage in the first round for the first time since 1999.
Their first round opponent in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs were the Detroit Red Wings. Game 1 of the series was the first NHL playoff game to be played in Gila River Arena. However, an injury to Shane Doan sidelined him for most of the series, and the defending conference champion Red Wings defeated the Coyotes in seven games.
The Coyotes again faced Detroit in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, losing the series in four games.
On April 7, 2012, the Coyotes defeated the Minnesota Wild 4–1 to win the Pacific Division title – their first and only division title as an NHL team (in Winnipeg or Phoenix). This gave them the third seed in the West, and with it home-ice advantage in a playoff series for only the third time in franchise history. In the first round, they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in six games, the franchise's first playoff series win since 1987. The first five games went to overtime, tying a record when the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs did it in the 1951 Stanley Cup Final. They faced the Nashville Predators in the second round, winning the first two games and the series 4–1. However, in the conference finals, the Coyotes fell to the Los Angeles Kings (who eventually went on to win the Cup that year) in game five of a 4–1 series.
New ownership and the Arizona Coyotes (2013–2024)
Because the team had been in bankruptcy since 2009 and lost revenue each year, the NHL planned to move the Coyotes should a deal with the city for a new lease and new ownership not be decided by July 2, 2013. The plan was to move the franchise to a new city, likely Seattle. On July 2, 2013, by a vote of 4–3, the Glendale City Council approved a 15-year lease agreement with Renaissance Sports and Entertainment (RSE), which purchased the team from the NHL for US$225 million by August 5, 2013. The members of the Canadian group were executive chairman and governor George Gosbee; president, chief executive officer and alternate governor Anthony LeBlanc; alternate governor Craig Stewart; and directors Gary J. Drummond, W. David Duckett, William "Bill" Dutton, Robert Gwin, Scott Saxberg and Richard Walter. RSE partnered with Global Spectrum (owners of the Philadelphia Flyers) for help in managing Gila River Arena. The agreement had the City of Glendale giving RSE US$15 million per year for management fees. There was a clause stipulating RSE could relocate the team after five years if it accrued US$50 million in losses.
On January 29, 2014, the new ownership group announced that the team would change its name to the "Arizona Coyotes" for the 2014–15 season. According to Coyotes club president Anthony LeBlanc, the change was made to reflect the fact the team is no longer located within Phoenix city limits and to include all hockey fans in the state of Arizona. Aside from a new shoulder patch, the team's uniform design did not change. The name officially changed on June 27.
Following the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, it was reported that lackluster revenue from parking and non-hockey events enabled the City of Glendale to recoup just $4.4 million, which was significantly less than the $6.8 million the city expected to receive back from sources including parking receipts, ticket sales, and naming rights for the arena.
On June 4, 2014, it was reported that a Scottsdale, Arizona, public-relations firm had sued IceArizona, the owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, alleging the NHL club had reneged on a sponsorship deal worth nearly $250,000. A Coyotes spokesman responded to this issue by calling it a "quarter-million-dollar scheme". By October, IceArizona entered a deal to sell a 51% controlling interest in the Coyotes to Philadelphia-based hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway, who had recently failed in his attempt to purchase the New York Islanders. The deal was approved by the NHL Board of Governors on December 31, 2014.
Committee to bring back the Coyotes
In 2025, an advisory panel was formed by Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Galvin with the aim of bringing an expansion team to the Phoenix area. In September of that year, Andrea Doan, the wife of former Coyotes captain Shane Doan, joined as the head of the committee. If successful, this team would also be known as the Arizona Coyotes. The NHL has expressed interest in returning professional ice hockey to the Phoenix area with player polls also supporting a return. In June 2026, Bettman said that the NHL maintains interest in Phoenix, although they are further behind expansion than Houston or Austin.
Team information
Name
Upon the franchise's relocation to Phoenix, a public team-naming vote was held, with "Coyotes" defeating "Scorpions" among the finalists. Both coyotes and scorpions are inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert, and the owners/supporters of the club wanted the team name to be an animal that was representative of the region. On June 27, 2014, the team changed their geographic name to Arizona.
Logos and jerseys
Upon their arrival in Phoenix in 1996, the team adopted a look with a traditional Southwestern design. The primary logo was a Southwest Native American-styled coyote playing hockey in a kachina-inspired style. The jerseys featured pointed green shoulders with brick red trim over a white (home) or black (road) body, and non-traditional striping patterns. These uniforms remained in place until 2003. A third jersey, primarily green with a nighttime desert landscape wrapped around the bottom and the cuffs of the sleeves, was introduced in 1998 and was retired in 2003 when the team redesigned the uniforms.
As the NHL switched home and road jerseys beginning in the 2003–04 season and coinciding with the team's move from America West Arena to the newly completed Glendale Arena, the Coyotes redesigned their look completely, adopting a howling coyote head logo while dropping several colors from the team's palette. Sedona red and white became the primary colors, with desert sand and black remaining as logo trim colors. A variation of these colors was later used for the Major League Baseball team Arizona Diamondbacks. The team also changed its shoulder patch, taking the form of the outline of the state of Arizona, with an homage to the state flag and the abbreviation "PHX". This logo was worn only on the right shoulder leaving the left shoulder bare.
The Coyotes updated their jerseys for the 2007–08 season, along with all NHL teams, as part of the switchover to "Rbk Edge" jerseys. The changes made were adding an NHL crest just below the neck opening, removing the stripes that were previously just above the lower hem, and moving the "PHX" patch from the right to the left shoulder. The white jersey also gained red shoulder coloring and laces at the collar. The three-stripe pattern is applied to the side of the pants.
The Coyotes also added a third jersey for the 2008–09 season. It is primarily black and features a new alternate coyote logo on the front, with the primary logo (coyote head) patch on the right shoulder, and the "Official Seal" on the left. Since white does not appear on the alternate, solid red pant shells are worn with this jersey.
Before the 2014–15 season, it was announced the Coyotes' third jersey would no longer be used. The patch on the home and away jerseys that used to read "PHX" would also be changed to read "AZ" to match the team's rebranded name.
Mascot
Howler has been the coyote-suited mascot of the Arizona Coyotes. He was introduced on October 15, 2005. The Coyotes' official kids club was called Howler's Kids Club. Howler wears number 96 on his jersey, representing the year the Winnipeg Jets moved to Arizona, and he also wore an "M" designation for "mascot". He has also been known to beat on a bucket to encourage the fans to cheer and has had many different outfits in games.
Season-by-season record
This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Coyotes. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Arizona Coyotes seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Players
Hall of Famers
Players
Mike Gartner
Dale Hawerchuk
Phil Housley
Bobby Hull
Brett Hull
Jeremy Roenick
Serge Savard
Keith Tkachuk
Team captains
In the NHL, each team may select a captain. Along with the two alternate captains, they have the "privilege of discussing with the referee any questions relating to interpretation of rules which may arise during the progress of a game". Captains are required to wear the letter "C" on their uniform for identification, which is 3 inches (7.6 cm) high.
Note: This list does not include captains from the original Winnipeg Jets (NHL & WHA).
Keith Tkachuk, 1996–2001
Teppo Numminen, 2001–2003
Shane Doan, 2003–2017
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 2018–2021
First-round draft picks
Note: This list does not include selections of the Winnipeg Jets.
Awards and trophies
Jack Adams Award
Bob Francis: 2001–02
Dave Tippett: 2009–10
King Clancy Memorial Trophy
Shane Doan: 2009–10
Mark Messier Leadership Award
Shane Doan: 2011–12
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
Connor Ingram: 2023–24
Franchise records
Franchise scoring leaders
These are the top-ten-point-scorers in franchise (Winnipeg, Phoenix, and Arizona) history.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game
Franchise goaltending leaders
These goaltenders rank in the top ten in franchise (Winnipeg, Phoenix, and Arizona) history for wins.
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T/O = Ties/Overtime losses; GA = Goal against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Team records
Note: This list does not include seasons of the 1972–1996 Winnipeg Jets.
Most goals in a season: 52, Keith Tkachuk (1996–97)
Most assists in a season: 53, Ray Whitney (2011–12)
Most points in a season: 86, Keith Tkachuk (1996–97) and Clayton Keller (2022–23)
Most penalty minutes in a season: 324, Daniel Carcillo (2007–08)
Most goals in a season, defenseman: 23, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2014–15)
Most points in a season, defenseman: 59, Keith Yandle (2010–11)
Most points in a season, rookie: 65, Clayton Keller (2017–18)
Most wins in a season: 42, Ilya Bryzgalov (2009–10)
Broadcasting
Television
Prior to the cessation of the team's operations, the following television stations carried the team's games:
KASW (Independent, Phoenix)
KGUN-DT2 (Laff, Tucson)
KUPX-TV/KSTU-DT2 (Independent/Antenna TV, Provo–Salt Lake City)
As KUPX also aired Vegas Golden Knights games on their main channel, games were split between KUPX-TV and KSTU-DT2, depending on the latter's own game scheduling
KNXV-TV (Independent, Phoenix) would also be involved earlier in the team's final season of play, but would drop out in covering games live shortly after the season began.
From its move to Phoenix in 1996 to the end of the 2007–08 season, the regional television rights for Arizona Coyotes were split between Fox Sports Arizona and over-the-air broadcasters including KTVK and KASW (1996–2006) and KAZT-TV (2006–2008). From the 2007–08 NHL season until the 2023 NHL preseason period, Bally Sports Arizona (formerly Fox Sports Arizona) was the exclusive regional television rightsholder for all Arizona Coyotes games not broadcast nationally by NBCSN, NBC, ESPN, ABC, or TNT. As part of Bally Sports' bankruptcy proceedings, on October 4, 2023, Diamond Sports rejected Bally Sports Arizona's contract with the Coyotes. For the 2023–24 NHL season, Scripps Sports became the new exclusive regional television rightsholder for all Arizona Coyotes games not broadcast nationally.
On October 5, 2023, the Coyotes reached a new multi-year broadcast agreement with Scripps Sports, with games airing on Scripps-owned broadcast stations in the Coyotes' designated market. As part of the agreement, the Coyotes planned to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service. In Phoenix, KNXV-TV's Antenna TV-affiliated subchannel 15.2 initially served as flagship station; due to network programming commitments with ABC and The CW, KNXV or sister station KASW could not carry the games on their main channels, but were still scheduled to air team-produced ancillary programming. In November 2023, Scripps announced that KASW would become the independent station Arizona 61 on November 20, taking over as the flagship station of the Coyotes television network. The CW would concurrently move to KNXV-DT2. With the team's cessation in 2024, the Coyotes' deal would end prematurely, but it would be replaced with the Utah Hockey Club (now Utah Mammoth) taking on the team's original contractual rights with Scripps Sports instead.
Radio
In 2021, the Arizona Coyotes entered a two-year deal with Bonneville Phoenix to broadcast the team's games on the radio in the Phoenix market on either KMVP-FM or KTAR. In 2023, the Arizona Coyotes extended the deal with Bonneville Phoenix by one-year.
98.7/KMVP-FM: Phoenix
620/KTAR: Phoenix (when there was a conflict on KMVP-FM)
92.3/KTAR-FM: Glendale (when there was a conflict on KTAR and KMVP-FM)