Editing Arizona Coyotes (section)

===Early years in Phoenix (1996–2005)===
In the summer, the team added established superstar [[Jeremy Roenick]] from the [[Chicago Blackhawks]], in exchange for trading [[Alexei Zhamnov]]. Roenick teamed up with power wingers [[Keith Tkachuk]] and [[Rick Tocchet]] to form a dynamic 1–2–3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like [[Shane Doan]] (he eventually was the last remaining player from the team's days in Winnipeg), [[Oleg Tverdovsky]], and goaltender [[Nikolai Khabibulin]], whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall".

[[File:ShaneDoan.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Doan skating, wearing hockey gear and holding a stick|upright|[[Shane Doan]] was team captain from 2003 to 2017. Holding the franchise record for games played, he was the last Coyotes player to have also played in Winnipeg for the original Jets.]]
Another key addition to the squad was veteran forward [[Mike Gartner]], who had joined from the [[Toronto Maple Leafs]]. Despite his experience and scoring [[List of NHL players with 700 goals|his 700th career goal]] on December 15, 1997, Gartner battled injuries in the latter half of the 1997–98 season. The Coyotes did not renew his contract and he retired at the end of the season. After arriving in Phoenix, the team posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons, making the playoffs in every year but one. The one time they did not make the playoffs, in [[2000–01 NHL season|2000–01]], they became the first team to earn 90 points and miss the playoffs.

The Coyotes' original home, [[America West Arena]], was suboptimal for hockey. Although considered a state-of-the-art arena when built for the Phoenix Suns, it was designed specifically as a basketball venue, with sight lines optimized for the smaller playing surface of that sport, and not with hockey in mind. The floor was just barely large enough to fit a standard NHL rink, forcing the Coyotes to hastily re-engineer it to accommodate the 200-foot rink. The configuration left a portion of one end of the upper deck hanging ''over'' the boards and ice, obscuring almost a third of the rink and one goal from several sections. As a result, listed capacity had to be cut down from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000 – the second-smallest in the league at the time – after the first season.

Burke bought out Gluckstern in 1998 but was unable to attract more investors to alleviate the team's financial woes. In 2001, Burke sold the team to Phoenix-area developer Steve Ellman, with [[Wayne Gretzky]] as a part-owner and head of hockey operations.

The closest that they came to advancing past the first round during their first decade in Arizona was during the [[1999 Stanley Cup playoffs|1999 playoffs]]. After building a 3–1 series lead, the Coyotes fell in overtime of game 7 on a goal by [[Pierre Turgeon]] of the [[St. Louis Blues]]. In [[2001–02 NHL season|2002]], the Coyotes posted 95 points, one point behind their best total as an NHL team while in Winnipeg, but went down rather meekly to the [[San Jose Sharks]] in five games.

From then until the 2007–08 season, the Coyotes were barely competitive and managed to break the 80-point barrier only once during that time. Attendance levels dropped considerably, worrying many NHL executives. In addition, an unfavorable arena lease at city-owned America West Arena had the team suffering massive financial losses<ref>{{cite book |last=Duhatschek |first=Eric |title=Hockey Chronicles |year=2001 |publisher=Checkmark Books |location=New York City |isbn=0-8160-4697-2 |display-authors=etal |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/hockeychronicles00tren |access-date=March 23, 2025}}</ref> (as much as $40 million a year at one point);<ref name="Burnside">{{cite web |last1=Burnside |first1=Scott |title=Balsillie again takes wrong approach |url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4146131 |website=ESPN.com |access-date=January 12, 2024 |date=May 6, 2009}}</ref> the Coyotes have yet to recover from the resulting financial problems.

Ellman put forward numerous proposals to improve the hockey sightlines in America West Arena in hopes of boosting capacity back over the 17,000 mark. However, none of these got beyond the planning stages, leading Ellman to commit to building a new arena. After nearly three years of proposals to build an arena on the former [[Los Arcos Mall]] in [[Scottsdale, Arizona|Scottsdale]] and having difficulty financing the purchase of the Coyotes and finishing demolition of Los Arcos, along with infighting in the Scottsdale City Council, Ellman looked toward the West Valley, and in December 2003, the team moved into Glendale Arena (which then became known as [[Jobing.com Arena]] during the [[2006–07 NHL season]]). Simultaneously, the team changed its logo and uniforms, moving from the multi-colored kit to a more streamlined look. In 2005, Ellman sold the Coyotes, the [[National Lacrosse League]]'s [[Arizona Sting]] and the lease to Gila River Arena to trucking magnate [[Jerry Moyes]], who was also a part-owner of [[Major League Baseball]]'s [[Arizona Diamondbacks]].