When Shane Doan moved to Phoenix with the relocated Winnipeg Jets in 1996, he went from a Canadian-mad hockey city to a state with only three sheets of ice and fewer than 2,200 registered hockey players. The Coyotes' original home, America West Arena, was a state-of-the-art venue for the NBA's Phoenix Suns. NHL functionality was an afterthought: Nearly one-fourth of the seats had an obstructed view.
For the first two years, the Coyotes trained at a facility called Oceanside, which didn't even have a dressing room. What's more: Oceanside didn't have a gym, either.