Doug Moss Fired as Coyotes President and COO, Replaced by Mike Nealy

Word out of Phoenix and from Darren Dreger among others have the Coyotes letting Doug Moss go from his position as President of the Phoenix Coyotes this morning. Moss had been with the organization and in the same position since 2002. 

Replacing him is Mike Nealy, who has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the team for the last 4 years. Prior to that he worked with the Minnesota Wild and in several public/private companies. Full Bio

Many fans, via twitter and other avenues, have expressed shock at the fact that this happened. I really don't understand why. Doug was and is a great guy who reached out to fans, was there for people, but if anyone thought he was going to have a job with new ownership coming in you were fooling yourselves. Look, I like Doug, but the fact of the matter is that on the financial and business side of things the Coyotes have been terribly run for years on end. I even remember Anthony LeBlanc of Ice Edge Holdings saying the team was one of the worst run assets him and his group had ever seen. Now while that may not all lie at the feet of Doug Moss, as the guy at the top of the food chain for that end of things he's going to be the one to take the hit. Just like head coaches take the fall for bad performance on the ice, the upper brass takes it when the business side is eating it. 

We here at FFH wish all the best to Doug who has always been great to us. While not entirely unexpected, we're sad to see him go but also look forward to a new look front office.