Monday night marked end to final Arizona Coyotes season in NHL (for now)

The 2023-24 NHL season officially came to a close Monday night when Gary Bettman handed Aleksander Barkov the Stanley Cup.

Some people are calling it the best NHL season in recent history, or maybe even ever, and in some ways, it’s true. This season had drama, intrigue, personality, pizzazz and some storylines so unique they almost didn’t seem real.

But for fans of the Arizona Coyotes, the 2023-24 season holds a different memory, and it’s certainly marked by a different ending. 

Coyotes fans will remember this past year not by the drama and intrigue around the 31 other teams, but as the final season of their beloved team. 

Even though the sale of the Coyotes to the league went through on April 18, and the sale to Utah became official on June 13, the chapter of Yotes 1.0 truly and officially came to a close on Monday night when PHNX Sports broke the news that Alex Meruelo was walking away from his ownership of the team.

And now, the start of the offseason is marked not by the NHL Draft and free agency, but by question marks and uncertainty as the long process for the NHL to return to Arizona begins.

On Thursday night, Connor Ingram will accept the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy he won as a member of the Coyotes. But on Friday, there will be no Kachina logo displayed on the impressive screen of The Sphere. Park City, not Scottsdale, will host prospect development camp. And before we know it, the puck will drop in Delta Center for Utah’s inaugural season and reality will fully sink in.

To fans outside of Arizona, perhaps the relocation of the Coyotes only added to the intrigue of the 2023-24 season. But as the desert heat sets in over the Valley, so too does the reality that we’re years away from the NHL’s return. Meruelo’s abandonment of Coyotes ownership only contributes to the uncertainty of the timeline for bringing an expansion team back to the desert. 

Coyotes fans appear to be split across stages of grief. Those in denial haven’t brought themselves to think about it just yet. Those in anger are lashing out at anyone they can – Meruelo, Bettman, the NHL, other fans, media who make any mention of Utah. Those in bargaining are doing their best to rationalize a way this all works out quickly and easily. Those in depression have separated themselves from their fandom. Those in acceptance have either moved on from the NHL completely, or have looked elsewhere for a new fan base to join. 

There is no standard order for the stages of grief, and as marquee events such as the NHL Draft, free agency, development camp, training camp and opening night arrive on the calendar, so too will the varying emotions associated with loss hit Coyotes fans. 

Monday night was the perfect example of the dichotomy of feelings: Pride and excitement watching longtime Coyotes defenseman and captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson lift the Stanley Cup, coupled with some combination of relief, anger, jubilation, frustration, hope and hopelessness at the news of Meruelo’s departure.

The only thing we know for sure is we don’t know what happens next. It’s a difficult thing to grasp onto uncertainty. The Coyotes skating in Arizona during the 2023-24 season is the last palpable experience fans can grip, and even that is now behind us.

Was this last year the greatest NHL season ever? Maybe. It’s certainly one that hockey fans in Arizona will never, ever forget.