This time next year, the NHL will no longer own a franchise in Arizona.

The Phoenix Coyotes, in town to face the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, could still exist by then. But senior league sources made it clear on Monday that this is the last season the league will own and operate the Coyotes after two years of stalled and cancelled sales.

“The clock runs out this year,” said a source on condition of anonymity.

That’s the only deadline left. This time around, the Bettman administration isn’t bothering to set any other potential deadlines, having seen so many come and go in recent years, including last year when Matthew Hulsizer seemed close to buying the club but ultimately found the aggressive Goldwater Institute impossible to appease and decided purchasing the St. Louis Blues was more to his liking.

There are two ownership groups remaining, one headed by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, the other by former San Jose Sharks exec Greg Jamison, that have already been pre-approved by the league, but neither has consummated a sale. Two other groups have indicated interest, but neither has gone public.

At this point, those familiar with the sales process estimate there is only a “50/50” chance of the Coyotes finding a buyer to keep the team in Glendale, and suggest that’s less than was the case a year ago.

There’s no sign the situation is improving under NHL ownership. In fact, Coyotes’ crowds are down almost 20 per cent from the first year the NHL owned the team, hardly a sign of progress or faith in the remarkable job done by Don Maloney and Dave Tippett to produce a team that has made the playoffs the past two springs and are on track to do so again this season.

Making matters worse is that corporate sponsors are, understandably, disinclined to commit to deals with the team.

With the NHL set to realign its divisions next month after the logistically awkward move of the Atlanta Thrashers last spring left the Winnipeg Jets playing in the Eastern Conference this season, the NHL will want to do things a little more cleanly this time around if the Coyotes must move.

Right now, the only firm deadline the Coyotes are facing is Dec. 1, the date by which holdout centre Kyle Turris must be signed to an NHL contract or be ineligible to play the rest of the season. In terms of the franchise, the “clock” will strike midnight in early March at the latest if no purchaser is found to keep the Coyotes where they are.

Then the frantic relocation frenzy will begin.

Quebec City is the obvious choice, particularly after Winnipeg proved the NHL will move back into Canadian markets if it has to. Many would push for southern Ontario, but one wonders how the league would explain this to its governors after initially buying the club in order to stop it moving to the region.

In Atlanta, a collapsing ownership group essentially took the decision of moving the team and the timetable for the move out of the hands of the NHL. The league, as the owner of the Coyotes, can more actively assert control this time around, and direct the sale to the city it prefers.

As well, the season ticket guarantees that Winnipeg met now represent a template for any other franchise moves.

So while the NHL was all but helpless, in the final analysis, to manipulate and direct the sale of the Thrashers, thereby moving back to a city that immediately became the league’s smallest market, it will have far more control if the Coyotes are to be moved.

League governors will be updated on the Phoenix situation next month at their meetings in Pebble Beach, Calif. With realignment on the agenda, governors will want assurances that they won’t have to do it all over again in 12 months, and will want to see a contingency plan if the Coyotes must move.

Glendale city council coughed up another $25 million (U.S.) in May to contribute to this season’s operation of the Coyotes, but the NHL won’t go back to do another similar deal if a new owner in Arizona isn’t found. Right now, both the Reinsdorf and Jamison groups have very different, tentative deals arranged with Glendale politicians.

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The Coyotes aren’t the only NHL hot spot at the moment. Dallas has the lowest attendance in the league and may be bought at a bankruptcy auction in two weeks by Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi. Columbus, with the worst record in the league, is having attendance problems, and there’s the ongoing imbroglio on Long Island between Islanders owner Charles Wang and local politicians over a new arena.

So there’s good reasons for the NHL to settle the Phoenix mess once and for all. By next fall, it expects to be out of the franchise ownership business.