Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong told the team Friday that relocation is likely, multiple sources close to the situation confirmed to The Athletic.

Armstrong met with the Coyotes in person before Friday’s game against the Oilers in Edmonton with players in need of answers after speculation about a move to Salt Lake City soared this past week. Armstrong flew from Minnesota to Alberta to meet with the team after attending the Frozen Four semifinals Thursday.

Every indication from Coyotes ownership is that relocation is going to happen, although it is still not done currently, the sources said. Team owner Alex Meruelo still hopes to get an arena built in Arizona to bring a team back to once relocation happens, the sources said, though that wouldn’t come until some five years down the road.

Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports was the first to report the news of Armstrong addressing the team.

Last week, the NHL was positioning itself to potentially relocate the franchise to Salt Lake City in time for the 2024-25 season, and updated its board of governors on the situation with a status-report memo Wednesday, multiple sources who read the memo said then.

The status report, per those sources, said that there are a lot of moving parts with the situation and stressed that no decisions had been finalized. Multiple league sources cautioned against framing relocation to Utah as a done deal while confirming that those discussions are happening. While stressing that work needs to be done, one source said things could escalate quickly.

This story will be updated.

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(Photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)