This Coyotes franchise had an off-season to remember. Their going to Hamilton then they are not, they are put up for sale and sold, but illegally. It is safe to say that the Phoenix Coyotes are the joke of the NHL, and in turn the NHL is a joke compared to the other major sports leagues in North America because of how they have handled this situation. One man, no actually two people should be fired in this situation. First up, the worst commissioner ever, Gary Bettman. Second, his side kick or bitch or deputy commissioner, Bill Daly. These men are trying to force feed a hockey team to a city that doesn’t care about the sport. Whereas the team would’ve been relocated to a Canadian city, Hamilton, where hockey would actually work. Bettman has a problem with Canada and how a hockey team won’t generate enough money. He is forgetting something; the six Canadian NHL franchises are the lifeline of the NHL. Wake up NHL.
Now to the actually team itself. With so much commotion and bullshit going on around the team, how in the hell would the team concentrate? Basically everyone in the front office has signed off and has said fuck it, there is no point. Until the court battles don’t go away, the Coyotes won’t be a successful franchise, no matter where they are located. With that, this team will not make the playoffs, they have no chance at all, and this is a guarantee.
The team last season was actually in the battle for a playoff spot, but too much youth served this team and they quickly faded from the playoff picture. Just imagine if the Coyotes were actually successful in Phoenix, they would have had a solid team within two years, because of all the young talent they have stock piled.
Starting with Kyle Turris, Peter Mueller, and Mikkel Boedker. All three of these players have great futures ahead of them, but sadly that will be tough to do this season. Who knows, maybe they will breakout and have good years. Mueller was the leading scorer out of this pack with 36 points, and he may just add to that. The talent that surrounds these players is weak, and that showed when the Coyotes finished in the bottom in goals for with 208.
The only player that actually played with consistency was their team captain Shane Doan. This guy will have another good year, because he won’t let the off ice stuff get to him, and he is a good player overall. His 31 goals and 42 assists led the team offensively, and the second leading scorer had just 46 points. Another sign of how weak the scoring was.
The Coyotes have added some players on offense, but ones who are good enough for third and fourth line work. No one spectacular, besides Doan on this team have real good offensive fire power. With that, the Coyotes will finish near the bottom in team scoring.
On the defensive end, another area where the Coyotes stunk, and don’t have much talent. A case can be made for Ed Jovanoski as the team’s best defensive player, but over the past three to four years, he hasn’t been that good. Jovanoski has been coasting along and collecting his millions from a huge deal he signed.
The best defensemen on this team may just be Adrian Aucoin and he is 36 years old. This was probably the best move the Coyotes made, how about that, they barely work and the one move they make is actually good. Aucoin can only do so much, and he is in the twilight of his career.
After Jovanoski and Aucoin the Coyotes have a lot of young defensemen and a few veterans that have played in the NHL, but team to team. So the talent level on defense is pretty weak.
Goaltending is probably one department where the Coyotes are actually okay. Ilya Bryzgalov had a good season after being picked up off of waivers from Anaheim. His 26 wins and 31 losses were actually decent. His save percentage of .906 and GAA of 2.98 were also actually good. He will now play a full season and those numbers will get worse because of the overall team defense and offense.
For coaching, Wayne Gretzky isn’t a good coach at all, and dived into coaching way too early. He has done nothing as a coach, and who knows if he will be back for this season.
OVERALL--> THIS PHOENIX TEAM WON’T DO ANYTHING GOOD THIS SEASON. THIS TEAM TRULY DOES SUCK.
POSITIVE--> SHANE DOAN IS THE ONLY GOOD PLAYER ON THIS TEAM. MAYBE THE GOOD YOUNG PROSPECTS ON THIS TEAM WILL HAVE GOOD SEASON’S.
NEGATIVE--> EVERYTHING IS WRONG WITH THIS TEAM, FROM THE OWNERSHIP DOWN TO COACHING, TO ON ICE PLAYERS. THE ATTENDANCE WILL BE EVEN WORSE THAN LAST SEASON.
X-FACTOR--> SURPRISINGLY THERE ACTUALLY IS ONE ON THIS TEAM, SHANE DOAN. HE HAS TO KEEP THIS TEAM TOGETHER AND TRY TO GET THEM TO COMPETE.
SLEEPER PICK--> I DON’T SEE ANY PLAYER THAT WILL JUMP OUT AND HAVE A GOOD SEASON.
PREDICTION--> THE PHOENIX COYOTES WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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