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Being a fan of the Arizona Coyotes requires you get used to a certain amount of disappointment. There are plenty of good times and pleasant memories, but they can be outweighed some of heartbreaking moments.
Today during the NHL All-Star game the Coyotes will be without a player representative, although head coach Rick Tocchet will be behind the bench for the Pacific Division team. It is disappointing that the franchise will be unrepresented on the national stage, but is far from the first All-Star disappointment.
2006 - The All-Star Game that wasn’t
The Coyotes were set to host the NHL All-Star game in 2006 as the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena. The event would be canceled due to NHL players playing in the Winter Olympics which was held in Turin, Italy. It has since been reported that while the Coyotes are without a new arena the Coyotes will not be getting a replacement All-Star Game.
After missing the last Olympics, it’s strange to think of a time where the NHL was willing to give up an All-Star Game to go to the Olympics. And while it is unfortunate that the Coyotes missed their opportunity, I think most people would rather watch the Olympics over the All-Star Game.
With the Florida Panthers set to host the 2021 NHL All-Star Game, the Coyotes are one of just four teams that have never hosted the game. With new owner Alex Meruelo the Coyotes have shown a willingness to spend more, and with a billionaire writing the checks the team will hopefully have a new arena soon. And with the NHL showing every willingness to help hockey stay in Arizona you have to imagine a new arena would quickly be followed with an All-Star Game announcement
2016 - Another year with no representation
The 2016 NHL All-Star Game is one for the history books or movies. The John Scott story requires more than this article can give. John Scott wrote about it the experience from his perspective for The Players Tribune and Craig Morgan who was then with Arizona Sports also had a great re-telling. For this article, all you need to know is Scott was voted into the NHL All-Star game and was to be the Coyotes’ lone representative.
Though the selection of Scott was thought to be a joke at the time, many people didn’t find it funny. The Coyotes would trade Scott to the Montreal Canadiens for Jarred Tinordi and Stefan Fournier and for a while it looked like the Coyotes were going to have a new representative.
But when the story broke that the team traded Scott it did not look good. Scott was immediately re-assigned to the AHL and it looked like the NHL and the Coyotes were burying an embarrassing situation, while Scott who wanted none of this had his life upended and was forced to leave his pregnant wife.
Scott would be allowed to play in the All-Star game, but he wouldn’t do so as a representative of the Coyotes. Scott would score two goals and be named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Unlike this year, the Coyotes didn’t have a representative for that game because they didn’t deserve one. As Craig Morgan noted in his article, nobody looked good after the John Scott trade.