Gutierrez eager to transform Coyotes as NHL's first Latino team president

The first time Xavier Gutierrez attended a hockey game, he was attending Harvard. He had been born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and grown up in San Jose, California, before the San Jose Sharks joined the NHL.

Hockey, he said, "wasn't something that I was exposed to." Now he was in college learning something new.

"I was hooked," he said. "I still have my Harvard hockey jersey hanging in my closet, even if my wife wants me to throw it away."

That story was illuminating for two reasons Monday, when the Arizona Coyotes named Gutierrez the first Latino team president, CEO and alternate governor in NHL history.

One, he's smart. Not only did he earn a government degree from Harvard, he earned a law degree from Stanford and went on to a 20-year career in business, working for more than a decade with Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo.

Two, he knows from personal experience the power of being introduced to hockey. He said he ended up becoming a fan of the Sharks, who began play in 1991-92 and turned San Jose into a hockey town. He said he has nephews in California who made hockey their first sport because the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings reached out to them.

"For me, it was transformative," he said. "I've said this over and over again. There's nothing like going to a game. You feel it."

That background should be an asset as the Coyotes try to transform themselves into a world-class organization.

The Coyotes haven't reached their full potential in large part because of years of ownership and arena issues. Now they have a stable owner in Meruelo, who said Monday he hopes to announce arena plans by the end of the year.

Gutierrez will take the lead on the arena.

"We share a common approach to business, and we are both committed to building a financially stable and prosperous organization today and for the very long term," Gutierrez said. "We are very focused on creating a sustainable long-term solution that keeps this team at home here in Arizona."

Although the Coyotes need to cater to the core fans and business partners who have stuck with them, they also need to attract new fans and business partners.

Gutierrez talked about being innovative, transformative and pioneering, using a tech-enabled strategy but also in-person outreach.

In a market that is more than 40 percent Latino, it's a big deal that the Coyotes now have a Latino owner and a Latino president and CEO. On a video call with the media Monday, Gutierrez gave part of his opening statement in Spanish.

This, after the Coyotes launched Spanish social media accounts and formed a Hispanic advisory board with prominent Latino business and community leaders recently.

"It wouldn't make business sense not to approach them," Gutierrez said.

But it wouldn't make sense not to approach all types of potential fans, especially in the spirit of the NHL's "Hockey Is For Everyone" campaign; especially with the League forming an Executive Inclusion Council and player, fan and youth inclusion committees; especially at a time when the United States is dealing with racial unrest.

"We want to be the best business organization," Gutierrez said. "But we also recognize that we are a community leader, and part of being a community leader means that you really have to take the strongest efforts that you can to reach out to the entire community, to be inclusive, to be welcoming, to be there and supportive of them during trying times like this.

"And so, truth be told, that was a key component as to why I wanted to take on this opportunity when Mr. Meruelo and I had a first discussion, because I do think that it's important for us as an organization to reach out and to really truly embrace every cohort of our community.

"Whether it's Latinos, whether it's families, whether it's female hockey fans, I think it is incumbent upon us to reach out to them, work really hard to make them feel that they are the strength of this team, they are the strength of this organization, and to create that passion that we can see in our fans right now.

"Obviously, hockey fans, bar none, are the most passionate fans in all of sports. Bar none. And we'd like to bring that passion to the entire community here, and we think we will."

You never know what can happen when you expose someone to hockey. Maybe he or she becomes a fan. Maybe he or she becomes a player like Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, who grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and was selected No. 1 in the 2016 NHL Draft. Maybe he or she becomes an NHL team president and CEO.

"We need to reach out," Gutierrez said. "We need to welcome. We need to give people just a little glimpse to get them into the doors, so that they can feel it. I don't know what other phrase to say, but when you go to a hockey game, you feel it, and once you feel it, it's there forever."