Are the Arizona Coyotes returning to the NHL? Local political & business leaders join hands to bring hockey back to the desert 

The Arizona Coyotes may not be gone for long. It has been reported that Tom Galvin, the newly elected county board of supervisors chair, has formed a committee of political and business leaders with a goal to bring an NHL team back to Arizona.

Former Coyotes journalist and reporter Craig Morgan broke the news on X on Monday.

"BREAKING: Newly elected Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Galvin announces the formation of a committee of political & business leaders to bring the NHL back to Arizona. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that he met with Galvin before Christmas via Zoom," Morgan tweeted.

This comes not even halfway into the first NHL season of the Utah Hockey Club, who were previously known as the Arizona Coyotes. Players who spent time playing in Arizona had always raved about the market and fanbase, so it makes sense to see that Gary Bettman and the NHL have an interest in a reunion.

What happened to the Arizona Coyotes? Exploring the timeline behind their NHL exit

After relocating from Winnipeg, the team debuted as the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1996-97 season. After 17 seasons as Phoenix, they became the Arizona Coyotes in 2014-15. They enjoyed 10 seasons in Arizona before losing the team last April.

The Coyotes were originally playing out of Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Alex Meruelo, who became a majority owner of the Coyotes in 2019, was unable to come to an agreement with the city and the arena in 2021. This put the Coyotes and Meruelo in a difficult spot to find a new home for the team to play in for the upcoming season.

They had to settle with temporarily playing at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. The problem was that it was a college facility at Arizona State University that only had a maximum capacity of 5,000. The next smallest capacity crowd in the NHL at the time was 15,321 at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

After two seasons at Mullett Arena, it was evident that the Coyotes couldn't continue playing at a college rink. Meruelo attempted to build a brand new facility elsewhere in Tempe where the Coyotes could play moving forward. All they had to do was pass a vote with the City of Tempe. Unfortunately, they lost all three votes, two of which were 56% to 44%, and the third was 57% to 43%.

This led to Ryan Smith purchasing the team from Meruelo for $1.2 billion in April. Smith, the owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz, brought the NHL to Utah as the Utah Hockey Club where the two teams share Delta Center.