Coyote ugly

Sporting News, The, Nov 27, 2000 by Larry Wigge

Phoenix has managed to stay atop the standings, but it has been far from pretty off the ice as a result of the swirling ownership controversy

You have to find ways to get away from the questions, the questions that leave you wondering whether your new owner will keep you or trade you. Or fire you.

One way is to take a train instead of a plane from New York to Washington, D.C.

Another way is to visit the White House and play ball with President Clinton's dog, Buddy.

The Coyotes, a team that has endured ownership uncertainty all season, did those things on a recent East Coast swing--providing them with distractions from the distractions.

"That was a fun trip for all of us," Coyotes captain Keith Tkachuk says. "You can get caught up in your own problems, in your own little world. The key is we've got one another. It's not like we're golfers standing on the tee by ourselves."

The Coyotes are getting teed off, however, about the uncertainty. An ownership group, led by Steve Ellman and Wayne Gretzky, has been trying to close a deal for the club since early summer. But the deal keeps getting delayed. Everyone wants to know when it will close.

"We hear the questions," Tkachuk says. "We hear the angst in the voices of reporters, who have had to ask those questions for longer than they or us would prefer. For a few hours every day when we're in the locker room or on the ice, we can insulate ourselves. We've kind of made this locker room a sanctuary."

"It's like our padded room," veteran center Jeremy Roenick chimes in.

"But the uncertainty," Tkachuk says, "does get a little old."

The uncertainty for Tkachuk and Coyotes' teammate Teppo Numminen is not new. Both players went through a "Save the Jets" campaign before the Winnipeg franchise moved to Phoenix. Goalie Sean Burke's been down this road, too. He was a member of the Hartford Whalers before they became the Carolina Hurricanes.

"We're hanging out there in suspended animation, helpless to do anything except play hockey," Burke says.

Trips on the train and to the White House serve as tension breakers--and can only help keep the Coyotes together.

So can winning. Take the Coyotes' 10-3-6 start, for instance.

"You've got to give the players a lot of credit for this record," says G.M. Bobby Smith, rumored to be on his way out when the new regime takes over. "It's just a realization that you can't worry about things you can't control."

Just a few days earlier, after a 2-0 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Coyotes coach Bobby Francis stormed off when asked how difficult it is to keep a team's mind on pucks and power plays instead of takeovers and trades.

"Give me a break," he said, walking away angrily. "Blah! Blah! Blah! I'm sick of it!"

The gap between winning and losing in pro sports is tiny. So the distraction of a potential ownership change--and all that it could mean--can be taxing.

"Trying to balance the chemistry of a team is very difficult," Rangers center Mark Messier says. "My team lost to nearly everyone last season, so there's a hurdle for us to talk about every night (the Rangers finished 29-41-12 and out of the playoffs for the third straight season). But Phoenix has been a pretty good team the past couple of years. The threat to their chemistry sometimes is not an opponent but rather the unknown.

"And if you are aren't winning your share of games, that kind of pressure can play with your minds."

Prospective owners Ellman and Gretzky were set last week to complete the purchase of the franchise from Richard Burke. But that has been said before.

Ellman, a Phoenix developer, and Gretzky have secured a $60 million loan and have reportedly lured $40 million from other investors to close the deal.

The Ellman-Gretzky group was first announced as an interested party in April. The group was given until June 30 to buy the club--a deadline that has been extended four times.

"It's just taking a little longer than everybody thought," says Gretzky, who initially invested $3 million but has since spent more than double that to keep the bid alive. "It's going to get done. I'm looking forward to being involved with the Coyotes, trying to make them contenders."

The prospect of having Gretzky involved with the Coyotes has been a positive. But the speculation has overshadowed that, and it also has overshadowed the wins and the great plays.

The team also has had to deal with the distraction of two players--goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who last played in the NHL with Phoenix in 1998-99, and free-agent right winger Claude Lemieux, last with the Stanley Cup champion Devils--who have signed with the new ownership group but are unable to play under the current regime. And while no one disputes Khabibulin and Lemieux can eventually help the team, it is unnerving for those who see the two as spies for the new regime.

Both can skate at the team's practice rink, but they are not allowed to work out with the team or use the weight room, showers and dressing room.

"I guess Smith and (Richard) Burke are afraid of distractions and I don't blame them for that," Lemieux said in a published report. "I'm not trying to be difficult. I would like to keep working out and skating at the (practice fink). But I understand. I've got a great deal with the new guys.... I don't have a deal with (Burke and Smith)."