Alright, on John Chayka’s exit from Arizona and the draft combine violation… Here’s what I know. 1. On his resignation…. Chayka asks for permission to talk to another team, believe it’s NJ. Arizona initially says no, then they let him. He gets a massive offer. Too big to turn down. Arizona is, despite giving him permission, upset. Won’t let him leave right away, want him to stay through playoffs. Chayka agrees to stay through playoffs, but wants to put a succession plan in place so he can leave after. Arizona say nah, we’ll deal with that later. Relationship went sour immediately, John Chayka terminates his contract. Arizona runs to the league demanding punishment. Bettman suspends him for a year and the whole fiasco cost him his opportunity. A few years later they’re playing in Mullett Arena where John Chayka would have been running a trade deadline out of a janitor’s closet had he stuck around. 2. On the scouting violation… The violation is framed everywhere as physical testing, like Arizona ran a private illegal camp. I’ve read several articles. Sounded like they ran a private prospect camp before the combine. According to The Athletic, the violation was asking players to show up to their pre-combine interviews wearing shorts and a t-shirt, as well as the Coyotes bringing their head of fitness as part of their squad to ask prospects questions about their diet and exercise. Arizona took no measurements, conducted no tests. That’s it. That’s the violation. I haven’t looked up the previous CBA to see how it’s worded, but some executives in the NHL felt it was open to interpretation and they revised the wording in the next CBA. The rule states it’s a team fine, but Bettman didn’t want to fine the failing Coyotes because it would have been in the millions, so he charged them 2 picks (a 1st and a 2nd), which obviously hurts and looks worse to the fans. Can’t absolve him of any responsibility whatsoever but the way he’s being talked about as some disgraced GM is, in my opinion, blown way out of proportion by people who don’t know what really happened. Not that I claim to have the full picture either, but that’s what I know. Most of it’s from Friedge (on his resignation) or The Athletic (on the scouting violation).