New owners in place, Coyotes shift focus back toward getting better on the ice and box office

The Phoenix Coyotes’ four-year ownership saga is over.

Now the team is hoping to put the focus back on the ice instead of the boardrooms and message boards.

The Coyotes completed an arduous process to find an owner on Monday, when IceArizona completed its purchase of the franchise from the NHL.

The new ownership group already loosened the purse strings with the signing of free-agent forward Mike Ribeiro and has vowed to give the team more financial flexibility in the future.

The owners also will focus on expanding the fan base and increasing the team’s marketing efforts, which had been limited while it was run by the NHL the past four years.