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There are going to be a few interesting hot spots when the playoffs get underway middle of next week.
My pick?
Phoenix.
It’s not just that the Coyotes are going to be in the playoffs for the first time in six years and the “White Out” - a carryover from the Winnipeg days - will be in effect at Jobing.com Arena.
The Coyotes return to the post-season is going to be played out against the backdrop of Glendale city council voting on at least one new lease proposal from a prospective owner Tuesday.
Crazy timing.
Friday was the deadline for the council to hammer out a memorandum of understanding with each of the parties interested in buying the franchise from the NHL - expected to be Ice Edge Holdings and Chicago White Sox/Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
After Ice Edge COO Daryl Jones was making noise about pulling out after dickering with council, word came down late Friday the Ice Edge group did reach an agreement.
Now council has to approve it.
If Glendale council doesn’t vote to accept a new lease agreement - and pave the way for the team to be sold - it is going to be a circus in the desert.
It’s going to be a very interesting time in Phoenix, the excitement of their unexpected success and the start of the playoffs playing out as the future of the club in the city is decided.
It would be a shame if the Coyotes wonderful on-ice story winds up being overshadowed once again by speculation about where the club is going to wind up. We’ll know more Tuesday.
HEAR AND THERE: The Carolina Hurricanes are now 25-13-3 since Jan. 1. That’s exactly 41 games or half a season. Double it and it would have been a 106-point season, the second best in franchise history. Fact is, they’re better right now than probably six teams who will be in the playoffs...Speaking of the Winnipeg Jets, there are still five former Jets in the league, but only one in Phoenix. That would be, of course, Shane Doan. The others are Teemu Selanne, Kris Draper, Keith Tkachuk and Nikolai Khabibulin...
REVELATIONS: Dominik Hasek (remember him, Senators fans?) is still playing and playing well, apparently. He stopped 109 shots (.956 save percentage) for Pardubice while giving up just five goals in four games in the semifinal of the Czech Extraliga against Liberec. “Adductor” is still a dirty word in the nation’s capital...A guy who quietly carved out a regular NHL role for himself this season: Tampa’s Zenon Kenopka. He leads the NHL in fighting majors with 32, but more importantly grew into the type of team player that has defined his career at other levels of the game...
SPECULATIONS: Not to make a big deal out of it or anything, but the Senators are 24th in the league in 5-on-5 scoring, the worst of any of the playoff-bound teams...Speaking of worrisome, the Northeast champion Buffalo Sabres are 16-14-6 since Jan. 9 and have won just seven of their last 20 games against teams currently in the playoffs. Time for goaltender Ryan Miller to show he can be a difference maker when it counts.
JUST SAYING: I always enjoyed trips to the old barns like the Igloo, which hosted its last regular-season game the other night. Anybody who’s been there lately would have got a laugh out of a comment by former Penguins coach Gene Ubriaco, who played in the building when it opened in the ’60s. “I can remember because the roof was round and white and pristine. It was like playing in a cloud. Imagine, it’s almost like you’re playing in the Vatican. It was very unique.” The Vatican? Really?
chris.stevenson@sunmedia.ca