Keith Yandle Explains What It Will Take For The NHL To Get A Franchise Back In The City of Phoenix

On today's Pardon My Take... KEITH YANDLE! The former NHL player and recurring guest of the show hopped on today's episode to talk NHL Playoffs, best goalies, who is coming out of the West, and more. 

Another topic the guys hit on included the future of professional hockey in the Phoenix area. Obviously, we all know about the news of the Arizona Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City next season. But is this truly the end of a NHL franchise in that market? Yandle gave his thoughts on today's show...

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The first domino that needs to fall in order to get a team back in Arizona, according to Yandle, is getting the right owner. And then, of course, there comes building a new arena in the right place. 

We saw the Coyotes play in a small college rink over the past few years, but a market like Phoenix (let alone any professional hockey team) deserves a much bigger platform. Is it Scottsdale? Tempe? Near downtown Pheonix? (side note: do not even consider Glendale. That is WAY too far from everything).  

Anyways, Yandle did mention that he thinks the relocation of a professional hockey team to the Salt Lake City market will be a good thing for the sport. 

In terms of the name, the "Yeti's" was the first one that popped to mind for Yandle. I don't hate that at all. It would pretty much be a clean slate in terms of brand creativity. To my knowledge, there is no professional team out there that has a name remotely close to Yeti's, so that would be a fun one. Sure, it would take some getting used to, but I am on board with Yandle there.