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The Arizona Coyotes’ relocation of the hockey operations department to a Utah-based group shocked fans and its own players alike.
That’s because it was indeed unprecedented and sudden, with behind-the-scenes dealings between the NHL offices and two separate ownership groups. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski gave a peek behind how Arizona lost its hockey team in a detailed feature story.
The piece sheds more light on why the league felt the need to move the hockey team and how it negotiated with Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo to agree to keeping ownership of the franchise while selling the hockey operations side immediatley.
While ESPN dove into why the NHL viewed Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith as perfect to take on the task of relocating the team, it also touches on Meruelo’s franchise and its shot at rising out of inactivity.
Meruelo has five years to show the NHL he has an NHL-caliber arena to reactivate his franchise and start from scratch. And in terms of starting from scratch, he must first win a land auction to develop into an arena. That auction is set for June 27, but it will require bidding for the plot of land starting at $68.5 million.
Before Meruelo gets to facing potential zoning and political pushback to build an arena, he could face challengers holding auction bid paddles, according to ESPN.
But the land auction itself might now become a problem. One source familiar with the process heard from some potential bidders that “didn’t want to be the ones that chased the Coyotes” out of the market.
“Now that the Coyotes have effectively chased themselves out of Arizona, that’s a prime piece of property. So I think there will be other bidders,” the source said.
Meruelo was asked by Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo whether there was a dollar amount that would be his maximum if other bidders want the piece of land at Scottsdale Road and the Loop 101.
“If other bidders show up, make sure you deposit your money, get your paddle and we’ll bid one against the other,” Meruelo said.
Former Coyotes captain and long-time supporter Shane Doan held the title of chief hockey development officer but left the franchise after at one point being told he “wasn’t ready” for a promotion to president of hockey operations, according to ESPN.
His departure came right after the Coyotes lost the public Tempe vote to buy and develop arena land there.
Doan worked for the Coyotes after his retirement as chief hockey development officer but had higher aspirations, eventually seeking to become their president of hockey operations in 2023. According to a source, he was told he “wasn’t ready” for the position, a verdict handed down by the owner’s son Alex Meruelo Jr., the team’s chief brand officer who had taken a more active interest in the hockey operations department.
Doan ultimately left the franchise to join the Toronto Maple Leafs under general manager Brad Treliving, who had worked in Arizona during the captain’s playing days.
“The opportunity to work for the Coyotes was special and I didn’t take that lightly and I enjoyed it,” Doan told Burns & Gambo in June 2023. “There are certain teams that kind of embody the entire league, and there’s not very many of those,” Doan said. “…Toronto is that for the NHL and so to get the opportunity, it doesn’t come along very often and is unique and I was excited.”
The first round of the 2024 NFL draft was historically offense-heavy, with each of the first 14 picks coming on that side of the ball. That pushed the top defenders down the board, which allowed the Rams to steal Jared Verse at No. 19 overall.
Verse ended up being the 4th defender selected after the Colts took Laiatu Latu, the Seahawks selected Byron Murphy II and the Vikings selected Dallas Turner, all from Nos. 15-17.
Given the Rams’ need at outside linebacker, Verse should get an opportunity to play early on as a rookie. And after seeing how successful Byron Young was last season as a third-round rookie, Verse could push 10 sacks in Year 1.
Like Young and Kobie Turner, that would put Verse squarely in the conversation for Defensive Rookie of the Year. He’s already among the favorites to win the award. According to BetMGM, Verse has the 3rd-best odds to win Defensive Rookie of the Year at +1100, tied with Quinyon Mitchell and Terrion Arnold. Turner is the favorite at +400 and Latu is 2nd at +600.
If you were to bet $100 on Verse to win it, you’d profit $1,100. Perhaps he’ll make up for Turner being snubbed for the award by voters last year when Will Anderson Jr. – a player similar to Verse – won it as a rookie with the Texans.
Arizona Cardinals rookie Christian Jones spent his younger days playing soccer and aspiring to reach the Premier League while growing up in the football mecca that is Texas.
What first started as a conversation and a handshake with his health teacher, who happened to be a high school football coach, has led Jones to become a fifth-round pick by the Cardinals.
“(My teacher) pulled up to class one day … like, ‘Hey, man, you’re too big to be playing soccer,” Jones told Bickley & Marotta on Monday. “I just told him … ‘Sophomore year I’m going to be on the academy team, I’m going to get a college scholarship and then I’m going to commit and work my way onto the national team and, like, play overseas in England.’
“This is the first time we met. He said, ‘When you don’t, come play football.’ I’m extremely prideful, extremely competitive, so I shook his hand on it. Fast-forward to that sophomore year, second semester, (soccer) did not work, and I saw that coach that following Monday, man. I just felt something in my heart, kind of just asked him jokingly, ‘Hey, man. When’s football start?'”
It started for him that day. Getting drafted by the Cardinals last week was further proof of how far Jones has come since first beginning his football journey as a high school sophomore.
Now, it’s all about proving that even with a clear experience gap, Jones can make a name for himself at the pro level.
Given the Cardinals’ coaching staff and current makeup in the offensive line room, Jones couldn’t envision a better landing spot.
“Going to the Cardinals is the perfect situation. A great organization, a great QB, a great line already that I can really learn from with a lot of vets that have been there for a while that can show me the ropes,” Jones told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Tuesday.
“I’m bringing just nastiness and dominating in the run game, putting a hat on a hat, taking a man and moving him from Point A to Point B against his will and I’m a pass protector,” the lineman added. “I feel like I’ve got great feet, I’m extremely athletic. I know this is just the start. I feel myself getting better every single day. I’m very excited.”
Despite diving into the sport later than most, the 6-foot-5, 305-pounder ended up appearing in 61 games for the Texas Longhorns across five seasons. His versatility was on display the college ranks, with Jones starting 35 games at right tackle compared to 21 on the left side.
But while Jones picked up a wealth of knowledge at Texas and can now call himself an NFL Draft pick, the offensive tackle will be the first to say he’s got a lot to improve on, including hand placement and overall technique and fundamentals.
“My whole game can be better. I know that’s very broad, but when you play offensive line, even when you make a good play it could be better,” Jones said.
“You don’t practice to get it right, you practice so you never get it wrong.”
Former Tennessee big man Tobe Awaka is transferring to Arizona, he told On3’s Joe Tipton.
Awaka spent the past two seasons at Tennessee where he averaged 4.2 points and 4.2 rebounds across 13.1 minutes per game. He shot 59.1% from the field and 63.8% from the free throw line.
He played in 69 games over two seasons, all off the bench.
247 Sports ranked the 6-foot-8, 250-pound big man 23rd among power forwards and 157th overall in the transfer portal.
Awaka is latest transfer addition for the Wildcats after Horizon League Player of the Year Trey Townsend announced his decision to leave Oakland for the desert this offseason.
Both Awaka and Townsend join an Arizona squad that has undergone quite the change this offseason. They are joined in the frontcourt by returning center Motiejus Krivas.
Forwards Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson have both declared for the NBA Draft and have closed the window on returning to the college ranks.
Guards KJ Lewis and Caleb Love meanwhile are testing the draft waters but are maintaining their college eligibility throughout the process.
Arizona has also watched some of its core members from last season hit the transfer portal. Former big man Oumar Ballo is off to Indiana while guard Kylan Boswell joined Illinois’ ranks.
Head coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats are coming off a trip to the NCAA Tournament that ended with a Sweet Sixteen loss to the Clemson Tigers.
Puka Nacua probably wouldn’t have put up the huge numbers that he did during his rookie year if not for the fact that he had Cooper Kupp in his corner as a mentor in the Rams’ wide receiver room. There’s no question he put in a ton of work himself, but Nacua has talked endlessly about the value of learning from Kupp in his rookie season.
Jordan Whittington is now the next rookie wideout to step into the Rams’ receiver room with the chance to learn from not only Kupp, but also Nacua. And he can’t wait.
After being drafted by the Rams in the sixth round, Whittington said he’s excited to learn what Kupp, “a professor,” has to teach him.
“I’m a student of the game, and Cooper Kupp I feel like is a professor,” Whittington said. “So I want to get to that level.”
Like Kupp and Nacua, Whittington isn’t a rare athlete with great measurables. He’s 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, but we don’t know exactly how fast or explosive he is because he didn’t test at the combine (hamstring).
Where he makes up for anything he lacks in athleticism is with his football intelligence and work ethic. Everything the Rams heard about Whittington leading up to the draft was that he’s a complete team player and leader in the locker room. He was a team captain for the Sugar Bowl, too, which shows how highly coach Steve Sarkisian thought of him.
For those reasons, he’s going to fit in just fine in the Rams’ receiver room alongside Kupp and Nacua.
Tonight’s MLB DFS main slate at DraftKings and FanDuel has nine games, starting at 7:07 p.m. ET. The PrizePicks and Underdog pick ’em lobbies are full for tonight’s medium-sized slate.
Check out our best picks on the MLB Underdog Cheat Sheet >>
The post MLB DFS, PrizePicks & Underdog Player Props Picks: Monday (4/29) appeared first on FantasyPros.
Eight former Arizona high school players were taken in the 2024 NFL Draft. Here is where they landed:
Offensive tackle Jordan Morgan became the first former Arizona high school football player selected when the Green Bay Packers selected the former Marana High School offensive lineman at 25th overall.
Morgan, headed to Green Bay, became the first Arizona Wildcat to go in the first round of the NFL draft since Antoine Cason did so in 2008.
The Arizona native overcame a torn ACL at the end of the 2022 season and started all 12 games the following fall. He was a First Team All-Pac-12 member during his senior year after getting named an honorable mention in 2022. He also played in the Senior Bowl.
Morgan measured at 6-foot-5, 311 pounds at the combine, where he ran an unofficial 5.04-second 40-yard dash.
Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was taken 31st overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round on Thursday. Pearsall starred in high school at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe. He’s another Arizona connection for a Niners team led by former Perry High School quarterback Brock Purdy.
Pearsall grew up in Chandler and set the Arizona High School 6A single-game receiving yard record (342) as a junior while attending Corona del Sol. He played three seasons for the Sun Devils before transferring to Florida.
As a Sun Devil, he totaled 61 receptions for 794 yards and five touchdowns. In 2021, his last season at ASU, he caught 48 passes for 580 yards and four touchdowns.
As a Gator in 2022, Pearsall had 33 receptions for 661 yards and five touchdowns. He added 65 receptions for 965 yards and four touchdowns in 2023. Last year, he also averaged 20.7 yards on three rushing attempts and scored two touchdowns on the ground. During his time in Gainesville, he totaled 98 receptions for 1,626 yards.
Pearsall additionally joins fellow ASU product and receiver Brandon Aiyuk in San Francisco.
Former Sandra Day O’Connor edge rusher Bralen Trice was taken by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round at No. 74 overall on Friday.
The former All-Arizona defensive lineman hails from Phoenix and played college ball for the Washington Huskies.
Trice played 34 games for Washington from 2021-23. He recorded seven sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss, two passes defensed and a forced fumble last season over 15 games (all starts).
Trice helped the Huskies to an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship. He was named Washington’s Defensive Player of the Year for the last two seasons and defensive MVP of the Huskies’ Sugar Bowl victory over Texas.
Former Maricopa High School and Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Jacob Cowing was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round with the 135th pick on Saturday.
Cowing landed with the 49ers after San Francisco had already selected Arizona high school alum and Sun Devil-turned-Florida Gator Pearsall at the same position.
Cowing starred for two seasons in Tucson after transferring from UTEP. While at Arizona, he accumulated nearly 2,000 yards from scrimmage on 183 touches, scoring 20 touchdowns as well. Cowing was a touchdown machine in 2023. He set the single-season program record with 13 receiving touchdowns.
His 85 catches paced the Pac-12 in 2022 and his 90 catches in 2023 ranked second. He ranks ninth on the NCAA’s all-time leaderboard with 316 career catches.
Cowing ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Draft Combine and improved to a 4.38 on his second attempt. Only four receivers finished with a better time, including Texas’ Xavier Worthy, with a combine record 4.21.
Former Pinnacle High School quarterback Spencer Rattler was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round at 150th overall on Saturday.
Rattler was a former five-star quarterback by 247Sports and Rivals.com and the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class, but his college career didn’t pan out as expected. He began at Oklahoma but was benched in favor of Caleb Williams midway through the 2021 season.
Rattler then transferred to South Carolina before the 2022 season and finished his college career with the Gamecocks. He threw for more than 3,000 yards each in the last two years and totaled 37 touchdowns and 20 interceptions over two seasons.
Former Centennial High School (Peoria) safety Dominique Hampton was drafted by the Washington Commanders in the fifth round at 161st overall on Saturday.
After starring at Centennial, Hampton played five seasons collegiately for the Washington Huskies and helped guide them to an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship earlier this year.
Hampton tallied 109 tackles, two interceptions and seven passes defensed for the Huskies last season.
Former Hamilton High School running back Jawhar Jordan was taken in the sixth round at 205th overall by the Houston Texans on Saturday.
Born in Long Island, New York, Jordan began his collegiate career at Syracuse and played two seasons with the Orange before finishing at Louisville, where he played the last three seasons.
In his last collegiate season with the Cardinals, Jordan had 181 carries for 1,128 yards with 13 touchdowns on the ground. He also added a touchdown reception.
He ran a 4.56-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.
The son of Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice, former Hamilton High School wide receiver Brenden Rice was taken by the Los Angeles Chargers in the seventh round at 225th overall on Saturday.
The Arizona native and All-American high school receiver played in 17 games over two seasons with Colorado before transferring and playing in 26 games over two more years at USC.
As a Buffalo, Rice tallied 27 receptions for 419 yards and five touchdowns. As a Trojan, Rice had 84 receptions for 1,402 yards with 16 touchdowns.
Hey friends, welcome to my weekly prospect report at FantasyPros. The goal of this column is to give you the most fantasy-relevant prospect information throughout the last week all in one place. The format of this weekly prospect is by level and analyzes players in order of their placing on my latest Top 150 Prospect Rankings.
I won’t be hit on every prospect every week, but I will focus on the most relevant throughout the week and follow up on other notable players post my top 150. This article will not focus on any AAAA-type players or veterans in the minors who have outlived their prospect status.
NOTE: Rookie status is determined by 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched at the Major League level | All stats as of Saturday, April 27
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