According to Elliotte Friedman, rumors that Clayton Keller is unhappy enough in Arizona that he’s asked for a trade by the franchise are inaccurate. It sounds like the forward is disappointed in the fact that the team seems to have no direction and the vote in Tempe did not go through, which likely means no new arena in that area, but messages from his father on Twitter were apparently faked and Keller isn’t going anywhere… at least not yet.
His agents elaborated on Keller’s standpoint that the situation in Arizona has been uncertain for far too long. Keller wants clarity and he wants stability. He said they would be meeting with the Coyotes and that things needed to come to a head shortly. They want the organization to display a sense of urgency to strive for excellence and the team has done nothing of the sort over the past few seasons.
Friedman said while on the Jeff Marek Show, “Clayton Keller had a meeting yesterday with the Coyotes… Now I want to make this very clear, there is no trade request here, but I think what Keller did say is that he wants direction, and reasonably quickly, on the future of the franchise on and off the ice.” This comes after his father’s Twitter account posted a message that Keller would not be showing up at the start of the season and that other players would likely follow suit. The message wrote, “Team will be moved, there are no other options and Phoenix will regret losing a professional sports team. City just got diluted from a perception standpoint. Privately financed too.”
The account then suggested that the entire voting process was fixed and called that area of where the Coyotes were hoping to develop a landfill.
The tweet was quickly deleted and then his dad sent out a public statement saying his Twitter account was hacked and that they’ve taken the proper steps to regain control of the account. Craig Morgan is reporting that Clayton’s dad, Bryan responded when asked for comment: “I am writing to inform anyone who read those messages that my Twitter account was hacked and the messages were sent out by the hacker. I want to make it clear that I did not authorize these messages and they do not reflect my personal views or opinions.”
Where Will All of This Go?
It is likely that, at some point in the near future, Keller and his agents will suggest the Arizona Coyotes try to trade him. The team is constantly buying contracts and striving to be at the bottom of the standings because they can’t afford to do anything else. They are playing out of a tiny arena and the franchise is the laughing stock of the league. If they have no desire to get better, Keller will want to move on.
Should he become available, 31 teams will be interested.
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