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PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:01 pm 
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https://theathletic.com/2390146/2021/02 ... =twitterhq

Scathing Athletic piece about the new ownership group. The Meruelo Group stiffs partners they owe, tons of people have quit, the rest are afraid of being fired, no one knows why they drafted a kid who bullied a disabled or why they reversed course after, a Yotes employee was sexually harassed and there's a law firm trying to figure out if they've fabricated their finances.

Steve Sullivan got lawyered up, as did a longtime employee who hasn't received backpay. Current GM Bill Armstrong is positioned as a good hockey guy but also a social climber who wanted the title.

What a fucking mess in the desert. Again.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 6:15 pm 
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I'm reading it now--shocking to be sure, but not surprising.

Notably, the NBA vetted Meruelo's finances prior to his purchase of the Atlanta Hawks and said "Uh...no." But Bettman couldn't wait to sink his claws into the guy, and that's precisely what guys like this, Viola in Florida, Barroway in AZ before Meruelo, and so on all have in common. They're all shifty, flaky guys with more money (or reported money) than sense. Bettman appears to be fine with these dingbats so long as they agree to prop up these two smoking tire fires of franchises, and he doesn't have to admit defeat and just let them be sold, moved, or worst-case scenario, folded up and contracted.

Also...what the fuck do they teach in Harvard anyway? Gutierrez, Meruelo's right-hand man, got his degree there. So did Chiarelli. So did Benning and Weisbrod. I don't know if they actually give you an education, or if it's just an expensive ticket into an Old Boys' Club that gives you an endless amount of lucrative allies and opportunities, no matter how utterly incompetent you might be.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:59 pm 
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Baseball writer and scout Keith Law went to Harvard and he was once asked what it got him and if it was worth it. He said "education for the money, no. The connections I made, yes."

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 17, 2021 8:17 am 
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Burke went to Harvard Law School. Says he didn't enjoy his time there at all, but just got through it so he'd have a Harvard degree.

And this all sounds like Spano Light to me.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:22 am 
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The threat against Strang and the Coyotes response...just comical.

Strang is one of, if not the most important, sportswriters of our time.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:36 am 
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Bosc wrote:
The threat against Strang and the Coyotes response...just comical.

Strang is one of, if not the most important, sportswriters of our time.


She's great.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:51 pm 
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Chris18 wrote:
Bosc wrote:
The threat against Strang and the Coyotes response...just comical.

Strang is one of, if not the most important, sportswriters of our time.


She's great.


I forgot that she was on the Isles beat for a couple of years.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:02 pm 
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Bosc wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Bosc wrote:
The threat against Strang and the Coyotes response...just comical.

Strang is one of, if not the most important, sportswriters of our time.


She's great.


I forgot that she was on the Isles beat for a couple of years.


I wasn't going to bring that up. I'm aware that I'm Isles-centric and am trying to cut back. :lol:

Or were you hinting that I'd only know of someone who has a history with the Isles- because I'm Isles-centric?

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:52 pm 
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Chris18 wrote:
Bosc wrote:
I forgot that she was on the Isles beat for a couple of years.


I wasn't going to bring that up. I'm aware that I'm Isles-centric and am trying to cut back. :lol:

Or were you hinting that I'd only know of someone who has a history with the Isles- because I'm Isles-centric?


No, just a statement :)

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:54 pm 
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Bosc wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Bosc wrote:
I forgot that she was on the Isles beat for a couple of years.


I wasn't going to bring that up. I'm aware that I'm Isles-centric and am trying to cut back. :lol:

Or were you hinting that I'd only know of someone who has a history with the Isles- because I'm Isles-centric?


No, just a statement :)


Boring. I was hoping for an argument, even if it was a joke/all in good fun. :lol:

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:26 pm 
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Andre Tourigny named coach. Been waiting for his shot a while.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 3:59 pm 
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E.L. wrote:
Andre Tourigny named coach. Been waiting for his shot a while.


Not exactly an ideal landing spot. If he can get that ragtag bunch to do even remotely well, he'll be an Adams finalist.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:31 pm 
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Arizona took on a lot of dead weight in order to rebuild their draft picks after the whole voiding incident.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:21 pm 
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I think this is a masterful move by them. They dump their worst contract, absorb some short term pain, and get a higher pick than the one they lost.

Maybe Bill is smarter than I thought.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 6:16 pm 
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Zona gets creative again, taking on the last year of Stralman's deal and getting Kolyachonok and a 2nd for their trouble.

Stralman is fading but has another decent year in him.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:44 pm 
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Swiped from Twitter:

OUT:
2022 7th
2023 7th
Garland
OEL
Hill

IN:
2021 1st (Guenther)
2021 2nd (Moser)
2022 2nd
2022 2nd
2022 2nd
2022 2nd
2024 2nd
Cond. 2023 3rd
2022 7th
2023 7th
Kolyachonok
Gostisbehere
Stralman
Ladd
Korenar
Roussel
Beagle
Eriksson

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:49 pm 
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A man who claims to be a former staffer with the Yotes under John Chayka posted this on Reddit. Worth your time to read.

tl;dr: He's an analytics guy who says he got snookered out of better-paying jobs for some promises that never came to fruition. Says Chayka wasn't a root cause per se but seemed rather oblivious about what was going on, or didn't care, and surrounded himself with really bad people. Jake Goldberg and Steve Sullivan come off looking particularly bad in this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Coyotes/commen ... m_a_staff/

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My Experience in the Chayka Regime, from a staff member, and why today should be a celebration.

First off, God bless anyone who entertains the entirety of this rant. But I do feel like it is a unique perspective.

I am a former salaried member of Chayka’s direct staff. I wont give my name, or position title, but all I will say is that I was one of the few who worked Analytics in-house (not Stathletes) during Chayka’s tenure with the team (one of the mods, u/ProJoe, knows this to be true, but again, I will not self identify). I primarily focused on goalies, and helped bring Kuemper to the valley. I just want to finally share my years of hell under Chayka, my first hand experiences of the incompetence with which things were run, and why I am happy for the future.

My entire life’s dream had been to work in professional hockey. I was never that gifted at the actual sport (again, as a player on u/ProJoe ‘s beer league team, he can testify to the fact that I am dogshit at hockey) nor did I ever really get the chance to play, but I was always good at math, and feel that I developed the ability to read the game at a well above-average level.

This love for the game transpired into me trying to do anything I could to get a job in the game. In high school, I took a Café job at Polar Ice Chandler, in hopes that it would allow me to develop connections with the ‘hockey people,’ and get closer to that end goal. Fast forward a couple of years, and the Ice Den purchased us. Soon after, now working on my Bachelors degree, I finally attained the job of Zam Driver. It may not have been the “official practice rink” of the Coyotes, being Chandler and all, but it was the same management and same staff.

Eventually, my academic career led me into grad school where I studied Data Science and Data Analytics for my masters. Through luck, and a few connections that I made driving the Zamboni, I managed to get an interview for an internship with Chayka’s head of analytics, Brad Rossen. It went well, I got the position, and I was thrilled.

The thing about pro sports though, even though its technically illegal, is that these internships are often unpaid. I was a student in grad school working on my masters; I had a full time job driving the Zamboni for the local rink so that I could afford to live on my own (mother had passed away soon before this); and I now had a full time internship in Chayka’s analytics department without a cent to show for it.

All I had was the promise that this would “probably turn into a job.” It was a dream (forgive how naive someone could be). Typical weeks involved school from 8-2, Ice rink work from 2-11, and then Coyotes work from 11-5 (plus whenever I could fit it in during my zam shift). I watched hundreds of hours of video a week, documented any particular player stats they wanted, and filed reports as needed. I didn’t make a cent. But hey, I did much of the analysis on Kuemper (and Grubauer, who was obviously never came to fruition with our club).

This goes on for a season, the last game comes, and I find out at the end of the game that, while they appreciated my service, it would be “better if I found a job elsewhere.” It just wasn’t in the budget. Being a new college grad, I frantically search, and eventually land a sweet job up in Scottsdale. Great salary right out of school, benefits, the whole 9. Im upset at not getting the position that I had worked for, but accepted it as part of the real world. To make things worse, the new boss pulls me into the office on Thursday, 3 days in, and asks if I am in for the long haul (apparently, the previous 2 people in the role left for better opportunities, but I told him I planned on being around for at least a few years).

I get a call that night. “We want you to come work for the Coyotes. I know that we told you we didn’t have a spot, but we just needed to wait until the new fiscal year before we gave you a formal offer. Now, I wont waste your time, they wanted to offer you 30k a year, but I talked them up to 40k. What do you think?” This was a dream come true, yet at the same time I was furious. They willingly let me get another job, knowing that they were going to hire me a week later. Also, while I wont say what we settled on for salary, I will say that entry level data analyst jobs in Phoenix start at 70k, so even trying to act like bumping from 30k to 40k was doing me a favor was a dick move. That next morning, on a Friday, I walked into the office of the manager I had just committed a few years too, and told him that I needed to chase this new opportunity.

And so begins the fun. I accept a start date for 2 weeks out.

2 days before I start this dream position, I get a call as I am walking into the gym. It was Jake Goldberg, John Chayka’s head of Hockey Operations. “Hey [insert my name here], we have been evaluating the position we just offered you, and feel that it would be best served in Tucson helping out the Roadrunners on a daily basis. We will pay for your relocation, but we need you down there for the regular season.” I was sort of shocked and went immediately home. For starters, as previously mentioned, my mom had recently passed away from an aneurism, and my entire family was trying to stick as close as possible to get through those hardships. I was (and fortunately still am) in a relationship with a gorgeous girl up here in Phoenix. And, my entire friend group was up here, which as an introvert, was a big deal.

I found out later that they didn’t mention the Tucson part immediately because until they knew I had quit the other position, they figured that I would have asked for more salary if it involved literally moving for the following seasons. It was always the plan, I was intentionally not told.

That led to a few hard phone calls, to family, girlfriend, and close friends. But, the dream…

It is still the middle of offseason, so I am doing all sorts of stuff for the home club up top (afterall, my title was “Arizona Coyotes” and not “Tucson Roadrunners”). I wont go on much further, but here are some of the things I experienced over the course of the next season:

-tricked into drinking my first lunch with Chayka as everyone orders “beers” in front of me, but I am the only one to get one, and then am shamed for drinking on the clock the rest of the day and am made fun of for being an alcoholic the rest of the preseason

-consistently called a “homer” or a “super fan” sarcastically for being the one staff member from Phoenix who was actually a fan of the team before working here

-was paid absolute shit, but was told if I took any zam shifts on off-days to help support myself that I would be fired, and that if I needed food I could eat at the team meals

-offered season tickets in my contract to “sweeten the deal,” not told that they were considered taxable income. Ie, we will pay you a thousand less, but you get these seasons that cost 5k for you and your friends (my friends obviously, the only game I got was the Doan retirement). That tax hurt, considering we were already paid shit.

-consistently called/texted between midnight and 3 am to have surprise reports ready for the following morning meeting at 7 am that were never once actually shared (always a drunk hunch from someone).

-not being told about morning meetings (I eventually found out was on purpose), and then being absolutely berated afterwards for not being there (so that I would stay late and do other work)

-being asked to drive a single helmet from Tucson to Phoenix, and then getting yelled at by someone else for being in Phoenix

-getting calls at random times on random nights asking me to run an analysis, and then being absolutely shredded because I wasn’t in-front of my computer at that particular time (this particular time was Valentines Day at 9 at night, asking about a potential AHL trade, while I was out to dinner with my girlfriend. I got yelled at while standing outside of the restaurant by Steve Sullivan, and told that if I wasn’t in front of a computer in the next hour, I was fired)

-Being told not to track hours, and that overtime didn’t apply in this type of business. And so became 70-80 hour weeks. “You have to be there before the coaches arrive at 7 am, and stay until after they leave at the end of the game.”

-Being told that I need to be at every Tucson game, but if Tucson is on the road I need to be at every Coyotes game, but then getting torn apart because I am not in Tucson when the video coach forgets a flash drive

-Being asked to tell players that they have been cut from rookie camp, because the people who should have done it were out to lunch, even though I was as entry-level as it gets

-Team needed an off-ice official for a rookie scrimmage, I mention that I may know one, he doesn’t work out. I get shredded by Jake Goldberg for not providing all of the officials for the whole scrimmage, and have to pay people out of pocket to provide last second ones myself.

-Getting invited to Vegas for an analytics conference with 2 “higher ups” to hear about the new puck tracking tech and watch a game, and get promptly left behind on the T-Mobile Concourse while they go and “enjoy” Vegas.

-Get asked to recruit more interns to work insane hours, under promises of jobs that I knew were completely false

-Being sent on business trips, and then finding out that hockey ops had never actually paid the hotel

-Being invited to a dbacks game with the rest of the front office, but apparently only to serve as DD (didn’t find out until I bought a beer and got yelled at outside the suite)

-Any scout, player, etc that needed a ride, it was on me and my dime. They cut a player, and it was on me to drive his shit to his hotel. To drive scouts/coaches home after games. Etc.

-“You are meant to be seen, not heard. Do your work but dont try to speak up”

-My roommate in Tucson was a beloved former player and scout, and was constantly treated like shit for not meeting the fake standards set by Jake Goldberg. He eventually left for a different franchise.

There are things that I am leaving out only to protect those still in the game that deserve protection and were just sort of there, but what I laid out wasn’t even half of the shit that went wrong.
John Chayka was a terrible judge of character, who relied heavily on the likes of Jake Goldberg, Brad Rossen, Steve Sullivan, and Lindsay Hofford. John himself was a decent guy, but his judge of character was dogshit, and he surrounded himself by (excuse my language) shit heads who were yes-men in front of him, but contradicted him (and even talked shit) behind his back. Not too shocking to see why we were shit in the draft.

It’s normal in pro hockey (completely normal), but how these guys talked about players was revolting. We had a player who was genuinely hurt, and the response was “if he doesn’t want to play tonight, we can end his career here and now.” At the end of the day, doctors were ignored; video staff were ignored; scouts were ignored. It was the Chayka and Goldberg show, and it led us to where we are today.

Id be happy to answer any questions as specifically as I can, but the real reason I am writing this is because of the response Ive seen from fans, particularly on Facebook. Im disgusted to see how much shit the new group is getting for literally trying to fix what Chayka and his guys fucked up. The ONLY way to fix this mess is to blow it up, wash our hands, and move on (and this breaks my heart as a guy who helped bring Kuemper here, and who truly believed in this team 2 years ago).

Ive heard nothing but great things about how Armstrong operates. He is a straight shooter who runs on his own conviction, but is willing to lean on his team. He is the opposite of what we have had. This guy is worth the chance, and infinitely better than what we had.

Teams do not become contenders through free agency. They become contenders through a plethora of draft picks, intelligent drafting, cap management, and solid development. We have 1 of 4, and have the pieces for those last 3. Lets fucking go Coyotes. Lets get this done.

Edit: thank you everyone for all of your kind words and responses. It was a crazy experience, but im still ironically sorta glad i gave it a shot. The point of this isnt to shit on Chayka and his group; the point is to show that I legitimately believe we are operating now with a substantially more genuine group of people running the ship, and that while another rebuild and many of these moves are hard to swallow, they are being perpetuated by a GM who actually knows his stuff and his people.

Cant wait for 2023/24 coyotes :)


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 6:40 pm 
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Reminds me of when Chayka left and there were rumblings that he wanted a Tim Leiweke-type position with an organization.

Like, what in the actual fuck had Chayka accomplished in Phoenix other than becoming youngest or close to youngest for the role, and the Stathletes thing?

Stuff from Friedman back when he left.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31- ... yka-split/

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:48 pm 
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I never really bought into the Chayka hype. The stats community didn't either.

At least now I can see why he looked so happy and oblivious when he announced his picks at the draft.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:37 pm 
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Great read; thanks for sharing. Is it any wonder why some guys couldn't wait to get out of AZ?


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