Pacific Preseason Preview: Are you afraid of the new look Coyotes?
August 16th, 2008, 11:05 am
Since there’s just not that much to talk about and the subject of how the Sharks are going to get under the cap totally beaten to death, let’s start to take a look at the Pacific Division and the state of our competition, shall we?
The Phoenix Coyotes came on strong at the end of season in 2007-08 and were a better team than many expected, including myself. Don Maloney is building this team the right way, with a combination of youth and veterans, but sticking with the young guys in key roles instead of bringing in vets who are stop gaps and just stunt the growth of the team.
THE GOOD
This team is stocked full of young, exciting talent up front. Martin Hanzal, Brett MacLean, Peter Mueller and Kyle Turris all appear to be in a position to have an impact on this season with this years draft pick, Mikkel Bodker, potentially available to play in the NHL this season as well. This means all four of the Coytoes first round picks could be major contributors to the big club, which says a ton for how well they’ve drafted the past few years. Adding Jokinen was a major get and he should help this team take the next step and give Shane Doan the veteran support he needs, both on the ice and in the locker room.
Also good is their goaltender, Breezy. He can steal a win on any given night and was a true steal for Phoenix off waivers, and an excellent deal at 4.25M per season. He could have been the most prized goalie on the UFA market this offseason, probably getting 6M from either Chicago or Washington. Not sure it was a great move by Breezy’s camp to not wait it out, but it was a sure sign of loyalty that they believe in what Phoenix is doing.
Also good is the mountain of cap space Phoenix has both this season (13M) and going into next season with around 24M of room with only Derek Morris as their major UFA. So, it’s possible the Coyotes could be in prime position to add a big piece at the deadline and try and convince them to stay on for the ride….Marion Gaborik anyone?
THE BAD
Todd Fedoruk. Daniel Carcillo. Brian McGrattan. A trio that provided around 500 PIM’s last season, and that is with McGrattan and Carcillo not playing a full season respectively. Why the hell do you need all three of these guys? I think this could backfire big time for a team looking to take the next step – and the Coyotes could find themselves on the penalty kill more often than not. Talk about following the Ducks model…literally. Their old back up goalie, some talented young forwards and a couple of thugs. Didn’t Phoenix learn from last years playoffs that this model might be out of date and killing penalties all game is no way to win?
I’m also not sold on the Coyotes blue line. Jovo-Cop is not worth the 6.5M he gets at this point in his career and management didn’t do a great job of replacing Boynton and Ballard, instead it looks like they are rolling the dice with Avalanche cast off Kurt Sauer and Calgary reject, David Hale. This is a weak spot for the Coyotes for sure.
THE UGLY
Why would you give Todd Fedoruk a three year, 3.3M deal? Did they forget that this guy got waived last year by Dallas? I guess he was effective for the Wild, with over 100 PIM’s and 11 points, but usually a guy who performed so poorly to get waived in season isn’t worth a three year term. Could backfire for the Coyotes. I smell an offseason buyout….
What do you think about the new look Phoenix Coyotes? Tough to beat or gonna bust?
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They’re gonna be tough to beat. I’m also at a loss why they got Fedoruk and McGrattan. Their blueline remains their weakness, but I think it’s still good enough in the West to remain competitive. Jovanovski had a good season and is finally playing like the player he was back in Vancouver. Sauer’s a dependable guy on the blueline and Michalek’s underrated. They’ll probably round out their top six with Matt Jones and either Yandle or Hale. They’re a playoff team for sure.
I don’t think they’re good enough to make the offseason, simply because they’ll have to play Dallas, the Ducks and us so many times, but I do think it’s possible as they weren’t that far off last season, and we won’t have any easy games against them.
I’m convinced that you’ll read this entry a year from now and will ask yourself, how could I ever forget to mention Tikhonov in this entry? He’s a one guy who’ll surprise everybody. Judging by the news from Russia and from the Yotes camp, he’s going to play in the NHL this season, and I think the reason why we haven’t heard more about him before was because his style and his body is more suitable for the NHL than RSL (just like Ovechkin didn’t dominate the world of hockey while playing in Russia). Mark my words, dudes – Tikhonov will score more than once on Nabby and will be a force in this league.
I’m glad someone actually talked about this guys, I do like where Pheonix is going. They really need to improve their defense though.
Thats all thats standing in there way, let the kids mature and they’ll be contenders.
I think some blueline concern is warranted. Their defense will be under fire without Ballard and Boynton. Michalek and Morris are fine defenders to go with Jovo feeding the talent up front. Look at Yandle to challenge for bigger minutes, not just receive them outright.
Bryzgalov-no question.
As for the tough guys, I find it hard to believe that the squad will carry all three. Carcillo yes, he is a valuable asset and can fire the team, not just bog them down with PIMs. Fedoruk and McG are to provide presence and one will win a 4th line job. My hope is Fedoruk personally. He can play too. (D)Brendan Bell was sacrificed for McG to Ottawa, and that was a bit of an oversight considering the team’s weaknesses now.
Kyle Turris is dynamite. I saw him in person put on a clinic against the Russians in the ‘series’ with Lucic, Gagner and ALzner. He played nearby for the Burnaby Express and his skills are ELITE. Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik have decent chances and I’m not quite convinced that Alex Bourret will go by the wayside easily. Enver Lisin has not impressed duly but has complimentary soft hands. Look for Brett Maclean to make some noise!
I think the ‘yotes could definatly threaten for a bottom 4 playoff spot some of the improvements they have made should start to pay off and other teams that have held playoff spots in previous years like the Preds, Wild and the Avs could easily drop out of contention this year leaving other teams room to move up.
Like most posters here I feel that Defence is going to be the ‘yotes downfall I think that Bryzgalov can definatly steal alot of games however he is going to face alot of rubber and could face fatigue going into the strech run or playoffs based on the amount of work he might get, Tellquist(sp) is an decent back up though and could take the pressure off Bryzgalov to play more games then he may be comfortable with.
This team is also going to get manhandled by teams with strong powerplays and with all the bruisers they have on their team they can’t afford to be stuck in the box the whole time. On the other side this team should be able to score if they can get out to quick leads it should do fine if they find themselves behind fast in alot of games it will be interesting to see if they will be able to bang their way back into them or just roll over.
It will definatly be a story that will be interesting to watch.
Yes, I am afraid of the new look ‘Yotes. Your point about cap space is well taken – they are in perfect position to be able to buy their way out of injury problems. Or to address their defensive weaknesses come trade deadline. If they’re close to a playoff spot, I can see them making a huge play for Bouwmeester.
Does anyone else envision not three, but four Pacific teams making the playoffs this year?