NHL News: Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Arizona Coyotes
Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford denies the speculation that he's unhappy in Vancouver and wants out.
Image from Pittsburgh Hockey Now
Canucks hire Rutherford

Elliotte Friedman: The Vancouver Canucks have hired Jim Rutherford as President and interim GM. Their goal is hire a permanent GM and have Rutherford mentor him.

NHL.com: Rutherford:

“It is an honor to join the Vancouver Canucks and to lead an NHL team in Canada,” Rutherford said. “I would like to thank Francesco and the Aquilini family for the opportunity. The Canucks have an exciting young group of players, and I look forward to building a plan that will take this team to the next level and excite Canucks fans everywhere.”

Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini.

“It is time for a new vision and a new leader who will set a path forward for this team,” Aquilini said. “Jim has tremendous experience building and leading winning organizations and I believe he will help build the Vancouver Canucks into a team that can compete for championships again.”

Where the Lightning generate their revenue from

Joe Smith of The Athletic: Based on information collected on the 2019-20 season on the Tampa Bay Lighting revenue.

Tickets: $60 million
Suite sales: $15 million
Sponsors: $30 million
Local TV deal (Sinclair/Fox Sports Sun): $15 million
National TV deal: $15-20 million
Food and beverage: $10 million
Merchandise: $5 million

Coyotes caught up bills and taxes

Craig Morgan: The Coyotes say they have made all payments for their outstanding bills and taxes and are current everything.

Katie Strange: “Coyotes said they have made payments, for state and city taxes and outstanding arena charges. City of Glendale is under impression that outstanding arena charges for 2020-21 season have indeed been settled with ASM, the arena management company.”

  • Katie Strange: “City is still seeking clarity from ASM on whether outstanding charges for 2021-22 season have been paid. City is operating w/understanding that Coyotes are expected to pay in advance for projected game-day expenses each month.”

Sportsnet: Statement from the Coyotes.

“We have already launched an investigation to determine how this could have happened and initial indications are that it appears to be the result of an unfortunate human error. Regardless, we deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused. We will make sure that by (Wednesday) morning, the Arizona Coyotes are current on all of our bills and owe no state or local taxes whatsoever. And we will take immediate steps to ensure that nothing like this can ever possibly happen again.”

Katie Strange of The Athletic: Back on December 3rd the IceArizona Hockey LLC had a tax lien filed on them by the Arizona Department of Revenue for owning $1.3 million in unpaid state and city taxes. The City of Glendale has been battling with the Coyotes over delinquent bills.