TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona Coyotes are officially headed to Salt Lake City.

The NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously Thursday to approve a $1.2 billion sale from Alex Meruelo to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, clearing the way for the franchise’s move to Utah next season.

The deal includes a provision for Arizona to get an expansion team if a new arena is built within the next five years. The deal will be facilitated through the NHL, with $200 million going to league owners as a relocation fee.

“We expressed our interest publicly with the NHL,” Ryan Smith told The Associated Press. “It’s probably been two years where we’ve said, ‘Hey, look, we really believe Utah can be an incredible hockey town.’ You look at all the demographics, we were just talking about the Olympics and you think about the Olympics coming back. It all kind of made sense.”

Smith will take over the franchise’s hockey operations and Meruelo will maintain his business operations in Arizona in an effort to secure and develop a tract of land for a new arena in north Phoenix.

Meruelo also retains ownership of the Tucson Roadrunners, the franchise’s AHL affiliate, and hopes to move them to Mullett Arena, the Coyotes’ temporary home shared with Arizona State University the past two seasons. He plans to pay back the $1 billion once an expansion team is approved.

“The NHL’s belief in Arizona has never wavered,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “We thank Alex Meruelo for his commitment to the franchise and Arizona, and we fully support his ongoing efforts to secure a new home in the desert for the Coyotes. We also want to acknowledge the loyal hockey fans of Arizona, who have supported their team with dedication for nearly three decades while growing the game.”

Meruelo will retain the Coyotes’ name, logo and trademark, so Smith’s group will have to rename the team.

“We’ll start with Utah on the jersey and we’ll figure out the logo and everything else, and what it is that we are, but that’s a one-way door,” Smith said. “You’ve got to do it once. And with this timeline, I think both the league feels better and we feel better to just run the process and then we’ll drop it when we drop it.”

The Coyotes played their final game in Arizona on Wednesday night, a 5-2 win over the playoff-bound Edmonton Oilers. The players celebrated on the ice with team personnel and a few handed their sticks over the glass to fans, who chanted “We love you Coy-otes!”

“It’s tough to take it all in,” Coyotes rookie forward Logan Cooley said. “A lot of noise, a lot of personal stuff and obviously the organization, you hear you’re going one spot then you’re going to the next spot. We’ve done a good job in this locker room focusing on keeping out the noise and getting better as a team, striving to be the team we want to be one day.”

DEVILS: GM Tom Fitzgerald is looking for a new coach for the New Jersey Devils and interim skipper Travis Green remains in the running for the job.

Speaking three days after the Devils ended a disappointing season by missing the playoffs, Fitzgerald said he hopes to have a full-time coach in place for the NHL draft in late June.

“Travis is well aware of my intentions,” Fitzgerald said. “I owe it to the organization to make sure I was following the coaching world with who I believe would be the perfect coach for this group moving forward for what’s available out there.”

Fitzgerald wants his coach to be a person who can communicate with his players while holding them accountable.

Green checks many of those boxes, including being a no-nonsense coach, Fitzgerald said. He said there are other coaches to be considered and others may become available, possibly after the first round of the postseason.

A year after posting a franchise-record 112 points and winning a first-round playoff series with the Rangers, the young Devils took a major step back this season, finishing seventh in the Metropolitan Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference. They went 38-39-5 for 81 points. Their goals against went from 226 in 22-23 to 283. Their goals for, goals-against differential went from plus-65 to minus-19.

They never won more than three games in a row.

It led to the firing of Lindy Ruff in March and the promotion of Green from associate head coach to interim coach. New Jersey was 30-27-4 when Ruff was relieved. Green went 8-12-1, losing eight times by a goal if open-net scores were not counted, Green said.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS: Coach Bruce Cassidy said he is still trying to figure out how to handle the goalie situation, whether to play both or whether to hand the bulk of the work to one over the other.

And then which one over the other?

Logan Thompson and Adin Hill each have compelling cases to be in the net when Vegas begins its Stanley Cup title defense. There also are equally compelling reasons why one should step aside while the other takes over.

Cassidy has split the starts down the stretch, and Thompson has been the better goaltender of late, but Hill’s play in last year’s postseason was a major reason the Knights now have a championship banner hanging in T-Mobile Arena.

“I think (Thompson’s) mindset is good going into the playoffs,” Cassidy said. “He hasn’t played playoff hockey, so that’s another animal. So to say, ‘OK, Logan, you’re going to be the guy,’ (but) he’s never played, is that fair to him, especially after what Hilly did last year?

“If we just give it to Hilly and say, ‘OK, have at it,’ well, Logan’s played pretty well recently and played more because he’s been healthier. So is that the right way to go? You probably in some way, shape or form will see both guys. That’s not because of poor play, either. That just might be the best way to go for where they’re both at right now and how their seasons have gone.”
Cassidy added the opponent won’t factor much into which 27-year-old starts.

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