Bryan Keller, the father of Coyotes winger Clayton Keller, went on a social media rant after plans for a new arena in Tempe fell through, in which he said his offspring will not be with the club next year.
“Keller won’t be here at the start of the season and you can anticipate others will either do the same or not sign,” he tweeted. Moments later, the father deleted his tweets.
He then mentioned that the team will have no other option in the region and will have to resign itself to moving. On a personal level, Clayton Keller is coming off a career-best season with 86 points, which ties him with Keith Tkachuk for the best season for a player in the Arizona desert.
The American, however, is under contract for five more seasons with the Coyotes. This eight-year pact which began in 2020-21 sees Keller earning an average of 7.15 million per season.
Among the deleted tweets, the father also ridiculed the holding of a referendum for a project financed mainly by the private sector. “A referendum for a privately funded project? It was rigged in advance so that we could keep this pretty piece of land! “, he wrote sarcastically.
The project to build an entertainment district – with a new home for the Coyotes at the center of the plan – worth an estimated US$2.1 billion was being spearheaded by Bluebird, a development company created by billionaire Alex Meruelo, owner Coyotes.
If private investments were to pay most of the bill, the municipality would have had to pay some $240 million for land decontamination and infrastructure. Tax breaks were also provided.