I know I promised my next blog would be the second part of KC Back in the NHL?, but things currently going on in the NHL sidetracked me so much I’m writing today’s short blog. I could be writing about Matthews hitting 60, but it hasn’t happened, yet. It’s currently 7:56pm Central Time April 26, 2022, as I am writing.

Instead, I am choosing to write about NHL jokes.

Most fans are aware the Arizona Coyotes could currently hold the title of NHL joke champion with everything they have done and been through in their quarter of a century in the desert. Quarter of a century, I hear you shout at the screen. Yep, the Coyotes have been in Arizona for 25 years now.

I could run through the litany of things that make them a joke, but right now the one that sticks out is that they don’t have an NHL quality facility to play in next season. The thing that kills me is the team and league seem content to play in a college arena that seats less than most ECHL arenas and they’re still probably 4-5 years from having an NHL quality facility built, and that’s only assuming they’re able to get a deal done on land they’d like to build on and can push it through regulations the city and/or state would have for them.

Speaking of Arizona…Auston Matthews just did it. Sixty goals for the kid who grew up watching the Coyotes. It’s 8:03pm CT by my clock.

Anyways, there’s another joke going around the NHL. It’s the impending disaster the Vegas Knights seem destine to experience. While the Knights currently lead the Stars 1-0, 31 teams in the NHL are hoping they lose and miss qualifying for the playoffs the first time in their history.

Ok, joke may not be the right word. How about soap opera? That’s what this season has turned into. In fact, last week during the Real Kyper and Bourne Sportsnet radio show/podcast, Nick Kypreos had the producer play the theme from Days of Our Lives in reference to the Knights. From the team’s treatment and trading away of Fleury to their abuse of LTIR to circumvent the cap to making a fraudulent trade (quit blaming Ottawa, pretty sure you had a copy of Dadonov’s contract…heck one website had the list of his no trade clause teams) to their demand and need of using injured players (Stone and Lehner) to DeBoer throwing Lehner under the bus. It’s been a soap opera.

And while the Yotes are the joke, and the Knights the soap. I can’t help but wonder why a player would want to play for either team? The Coyotes stink and will play to pathetic crowds for the foreseeable future. Why would you want to go to them? And Vegas continually turns over their roster and shows no loyalty to even a player that was the cornerstone, the guy who won the Vezina just last year. Why would you want to play for a team that doesn’t keep their promise to their best player? A promise that came directly from the owner’s mouth that you would retire with his team, and then a few months later the team trades you away for nothing. And while the Knights have done this in their pursuit of the Cup, what do they have to show for it? Hopefully, a change in the way they do business. Meanwhile, 30 other teams might be celebrating right along with the Stars if/when they win tonight.