From laughingstock to destination to champion: The Panthers’ journey to winning the Stanley Cup

I apologize in advance if this seems like salt in the wounds after yesterday’s news, but I read this story and saw a lot of parallels between Florida and the Coyotes. The difference is that they went one way and the Coyotes went the other. Some things stick out: the lack of respect from Canadian media and fans, the poor attendance and gimmicks to get people through the door, owners more concerned with promoting their businesses, local governments not being fully committed to hockey. But the difference I think is that, at a critical point when it could have gone one way or the other, Florida recognized they needed to make wholesale changes to how they did business and did so. Meanwhile, when that point came for the Coyotes, we had Barroway and Meruelo calling the shots. Once Meruelo gained full control he proceeded to piss everyone off, people who he needed to work with to ensure success, and had to beg others to get to play at ASU. The final chance was Tempe, which they completely blew due to his malfeasance. They were doomed to fail after they lost that vote and I think most of us knew it. But he’s not the victim he claims to be, this was entirely his own doing.

Thanks to Meruelo and his gong show ownership, no one knows what the future holds now. Hopefully we get another chance with an owner who cares and wants to have a successful hockey team rather than a successful lifestyle center and sports book. There are numerous warm weather teams that have shown it’s possible to thrive in non-traditional hockey markets.