The NHL MacGuffin

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone not already addressed: The NHL and MASL 2024-25 seasons are near at hand, and both The NHL MacGuffin and The MASL MacGuffin will soon be back up for grabs. Before we get deep into the season, I wanted to prepare fans of these projects for what's likely to be a tumultuous November and December... Not necessarily in terms of where The NHL and MASL MacGuffins travel, but in terms of what the life of this admin will be. And for a better understanding of that, I have to start with what happened last December. (Technically, I could go further, but I'll try to keep this all succinct.) At the end of December, a former boss of mine started messaging me asking what it would take for me to leave my current job and work for him, again. I gave him a number; he made it a reality. And through January (on either side of a trip to Las Vegas, no less), my former employer worked to find, hire, and train my replacement. In the meanwhile, my workload there doubled fo...

NOTE: The following article was published on October 22. An update to this story appears below. On October 9, 2023, the NHL put out an updated memo addressing on-ice special initiatives. The original memo from June suspended the use of themed warm-up jerseys associated with cancer-awareness, military appreciation, and most notably, LGBTQ+ pride nights. The updated memo in October took it a step further, banning the use of Pride Tape. The story so far This past April, seven players opted out of wearing rainbow-colored warm-up jerseys for Pride nights . For one of these players, his stated concern dealt with fear of legal retribution in his home country. For the rest, the reasonings were personal: Faith and family. Largely because of this dissent, Commissioner Gary Bettman and the league began re-evaluating these programs in the off-season. But at the time, he still seemed comfortable with these programs. Bettman had made Pride night detractors out to be the "distraction," and ...

Voters in Tempe closed the door on building a new arena to host the Arizona Coyotes. The team had already lost their lease to play at Desert Diamond Arena, requiring the team to work out the agreement to play at Arizona State University's Mullett Arena. At the end of the 2024-25 season, the Coyotes lose that option as well, which leaves them with the possibility of having to relocate, perhaps outside of Arizona. Right now, what the Coyotes need is an arena that's ready-built for the task of hosting the NHL, so where would that put them? (Note: Some arena capacities listed below are estimates, not official numbers.) Remain in Arizona, Desert Diamond Arena (Capacity: 17,125) Call it desperation, but I personally think that hockey in Arizona is not dead, yet. If the NHL and the Coyotes can work out an arrangement to come back to play at Desert Diamond Arena, it saves a lot of people a lot of heartache and headaches. My number one preference is the Coyotes to stay in Arizona, but I...