AHL Team Gets “W” Over NHL: Cuda Roast Coyotes on Twitter

The Arizona Coyotes keep taking L’s.

And not just on the ice, where the Coyotes, at 12-32-4, are the second-worst team in the NHL.

Nope, a little more closer to home, or where they’re going to be playing for the next few years.

On Monday, the Coyotes confirmed that they had reached a multi-year pact with Arizona State University to play at the Sun Devils’ new multi-purpose arena in Tempe, set to debut in the fall of 2022. This was after the city of Glendale and Gila River Arena, where the Yotes currently reside, decided not to renew their operating agreement past the 2021–22 season.

Seating capacity? About 5,000. That’s right: 5,000.

To put that figure in perspective, at the moment, the average NHL arena has a capacity of 18,411. SAP Center, where the San Jose Sharks play, seats 17,562. Canada Life Centre, where the Winnipeg Jets play, seats a current NHL-low 15,004.

This would be 10,000 seats less.

You knew that the NHL and the Coyotes were going to get roasted for this — but who knew that it would the San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliate that would carve them up?

The San Jose Barracuda are building their own arena in San Jose, capacity 4,200, also slated to debut this fall. A few hundred short of what passes for an NHL arena these days, the Barracuda social media team still couldn’t help but stick a Valentine’s Day knife to the heart:

👀 pic.twitter.com/Gz7mK5u6wu

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 14, 2022

Cold as ice.

No word on if this was a San Jose Sharks-sanctioned hit on a former division rival.

Who’s up for a home-and-home series between the Coyotes and the Cuda next pre-season? Winner gets to name the loser’s arena.