Daniel Winnik (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Despite this week’s Radim Vrbata trade, the Coyotes’ interest in free agent forward Alex Tanguay persists.
General Manager Don Maloney has been very candid regarding his discussions with Tanguay’s representatives. Earlier this week Maloney told The Sporting News, “We’ve had some discussions. He’s certainly an interesting player. He’d be a real nice fit for us.”
Maloney told phoenixcoyotes.com today that Tanguay’s injuries are of “some concern.”
Injuries limited the free agent forward last season, as he scored 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points in 50 games for the Montreal Canadiens. He also missed a pair of playoff games with an upper body injury.
In 659 career NHL games with Colorado, Calgary and Montreal, Tanguay has scored 193 goals and 387 assists for 580 points.
Winnik’s arbitration settled
Forward Daniel Winnik was given a one-year contract as a result of an arbitration hearing from earlier this week.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Winnik tallied three goals and four assists for seven points and 63 penalty minutes in 49 games for Phoenix last season.
During his rookie season in 2007-08, the native of Toronto scored 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points and 25 penalty minutes in 79 games.
Records revealed
The City of Glendale has released some documents in relation to the talks regarding the Coyotes’ lease at Jobing.com Arena.
The first document is a letter from Beacon Sports Capital Partners, LLC to City Manager Ed Beasley dated January 21, 2009.
The letter said Beacon had already had discussions with promoters and venue managers regarding booking more events at the arena.
It also said that the arena could book more event dates to help generate more revenue. The group had also asked to meet with Beasley.
Representatives from Beacon attended a December 11, 2008 Coyotes game to get a better understanding of the fan base and game day operations. The group also attended a Suns game the following night to provide a “Phoenix area benchmark.”
After doing this, they made the following recommendations; some of these recommendations had already been released to the general public:
- Outsourcing local broadcast production costs
- Eliminate ownership expenses, which include payments to Jeff Shumway (who is now no longer a member of the organization).
- Move the team offices into the arena and stop paying for office space at Westgate owned by team owner Jerry Moyes at above market lease costs.
- Reduce compensation to Wayne Gretzky
- Reduce business operations and game day expenses at the arena. The group observed that operations were “overstaffed, they under-deliver and present a mediocre game-day experience.”
- Cut non-player costs in the hockey operations department.
The letter also recommended revenue opportunities, which include:
- Expanding local broadcast revenue.
- Increasing non-hockey events at the arena from the current 30 to 35, to approximately 104 to 106.
- Additional suite sales
- Increasing sponsorship and advertising sales.
- Increasing ticket sales.
A letter summarizing these recommendations was sent to John Kaites on April 15, 2009, a little less then one month before Moyes put the Coyotes into bankruptcy. Kaites is a member of Jerry Reinsdorf’s Glendale Hockey, LLC group.
The documents also demonstrate the tight timeline all parties were working under. In a June 22 e-mail that Adam Klein, a lawyer for Reinsdorf, sent to William Baldiga, a lawyer for the City of Glendale; Klein says, “Submitting a qualifying bid by July 24 is going to be cutting it awfully close given all we have to do.”
The bid was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy court earlier today.
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