30 teams in 30 days: Phoenix Coyotes
Finished: 13th western conference
Leading scorers: Shane Doan 73, Matthew Lombardi 46, Steven Reinprecht 41, Peter Mueller 36
Who did they add?: Vernon Fiddler, Brian McGrattan, Adrian Aucoin, Lauri Korpikoski
Who did they lose?: Nigel Dawes, Enver Lisin
Overview: The Coyotes entered the 2008-09 season with higher expectations than usual, as a rash of prime, young talent had the makings of leading the yotes to the playoffs. They started out nicely, but eventually falling off pace, and finishing 13th in the west. The Coyotes are mired in financial trouble, and don’t even have an owner right now (fans of the NHL will know all too well about this whole saga), so they couldn’t exactly spend big bucks on free agents. However, they used what little they had to make themselves tougher, and grittier. The additions of Vernon Fiddler and Brian McGrattan bring size and toughness to an offense that is small and speedy, other than Shane Doan, who is just a wrecking crew himself year in year out. Peter Mueller, Michael Boedker, Martin Hanzal and Kyle Turris, just to name a few, will all need to have stellar sophomore campaigns of the Coyotes are going to improve on a dismal 208 goals for, third worst in the league last season. The defense is anchored by Adrian Aucoin and Ed Jovanovski, both aging but are still good puck movers and shutdown guys. Aucoin is a good acquisition in particular, because he can also help boost the powerplay, something the Coyotes needed. Following these two guys are Zbynek Michalek, Kurt Sauer, James Vandermeer and Keith Yandle, who are all young, and will need to step up. In goal for the Coyotes is Ilya Bryzgalov, who has the potential to be a starter in this league and post good numbers. Although his .906 sv % and 2.98 GAA are pretty respectable numbers, he will need to improve on that if Phoenix wants to have any success next season. Things might be better, now that he has Jason Labarbera, a solid backup, behind him. If you look through all this fog about ownership and all that stuff, Phoenix has a solid team. It’s just hard to see them making any noise at all. Look for them once again to finish out of a playoff spot, and lose another 60 million dollars and not be able to improve whatsoever.
Winners or losers?: The Coyotes are losers this offseason, but honestly, how can you blame them? My opinion on this might be a little biased because I am a Canadian, but why won’t the NHL just approve Balsillie’s bid? It’s clear that Hamilton is a bigger hockey market than Phoenix will ever be.
