The ''dressing room'' situation in Arizona's new temporary home is both hilarious and incredibly insulting to NHLers
The New York Rangers have Madison Square Garden, the Montreal Canadiens have the Bell Centre, the Los Angeles Kings have Crypto dot com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) and the Toronto Maple Leafs have Scotiabank Arena (formerly the Air Canada Centre). Most, if not all NHL teams have state of the art setups, some more revered than others. Then there's the Arizona Coyotes, who now play at the Mullett Arena, which holds a capacity of approximately 5,000.
In December of 2021, the Coyotes were informed that they would no longer be able to use Gila River Arena if they did not pay the $1.3 million they owed in taxes. They eventually paid their bills, however they started scouring for a new arena and they locked in on Arizona State University/Mullett Arena.
It's embarrassing, to say the least, that an NHL team has signed a 3-year deal to play in a college arena that holds nearly a quarter of what every other arena in the NHL offers. They've had their monetary issues for as long as anyone can remember and have been grandfathered in by the NHL, who have not been willing to sell or relocate to a more viable market - and there are plenty.
A Twitter account with the handle of @PHNX_Coyotes posted a look at the visiting team spaces for the first 4 games being held at the arena and it is not pretty. It is temporary for a few games, as the annex is supposed to be built by December.
The full video can be seen below:
Honestly, it's a joke that the NHL even considered this idea in the first place. From early reports, the players are not happy with the situation in Mullett Arena, including the home locker rooms. I can 100% guarantee the visiting players are not going to be too thrilled either.
