Are the Grizzlies leaving Salt Lake ice?

From green to red. From second-to-last to last overall. From Utah to, well, who knows?

It has been a frustrating last several years for the Utah Grizzlies, who switched NHL affiliations from the Dallas Stars to the Phoenix Coyotes a year ago, dropping the old green team color for red and hoping to avoid the loss column a bit but ending up there more than ever in 2004-05.

There are two ways to take it.

The Coyotes say though the record was embarrassing, they have the feeling their young players gained experience that will translate to better performance next season.

But Grizzlies' owner David Elmore of California is impatient after years of losing on the ice and at the gate, and he confirmed to the Deseret Morning News Tuesday that he is shopping his AHL franchise, though there will be hockey under the name "Grizzlies" in the E Center next fall.

Elmore has a lease with West Valley City to provide a hockey team for the building, and he owns companies that manage the E Center and sell the concessions there, making it imperative to his own interests to have a major tenant there.

"I'm disappointed in the season," Elmore said, "and we are planning for the season to be substantially better next year."

It just may not be in the expensive AHL — which requires Western teams to pay travel costs for Eastern teams — unless someone else buys the franchise to keep it here, which is a possibility.

"I will confirm that people are looking at the team," Elmore said. "There isn't any more I can say," he added.

Interests in Florida are also thought to want Elmore's AHL franchise to move to Orlando and be the affiliate of the Florida Panthers, who are now in San Antonio. Should that happen, it could free Phoenix to move its minor leaguers to that Texas city.

If Elmore were to sell the AHL franchise out of state, he could operate next year in the ECHL, which has teams in Boise, Las Vegas, Long Beach and next season will be in Phoenix; or the CHL, with teams in several old CHL cities like Denver, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita and Fort Worth, as well as Albuquerque and is adding cities for next year. Neither league would require travel subsidies and would be cheaper in salaries, per diem and travel costs.

The Coyotes say they don't want to move out of Utah.