2014-15 Arizona Coyotes Preview
Oct 1, 2014 - 7:11 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - In case you missed it, the Phoenix Coyotes became the Arizona Coyotes during the summer. After two straight seasons out of the playoffs, the club is hoping its fortunes will change along with its name.The Coyotes finished four points out of a playoff spot in the lockout- shortened season of 2013 and last season they were just two points removed from the eighth seed in the West.
When Dave Tippett took over the head coaching job from Wayne Gretzky in 2009-10, his club finished the season ranked third in the NHL in team defense with 2.39 goals allowed per game. The defensive approach led to three straight playoff appearances from 2010-12, but Tippett's club was not nearly as stingy while missing the postseason in each of the last two campaigns.
An inconsistent season from No. 1 goaltender Mike Smith did not help the Coyotes' cause in 2013-14. However, the 32-year-old did play his best hockey late in the season and Arizona is counting on Smith to put together another campaign closer to the one he had with the Coyotes in 2011-12.
Scoring depth also is a concern heading into 2014-15, as the club's top scorer last season was defenseman Keith Yandle with 53 points. Top-line winger Radim Vrbata, who tied for second on the team in points last season, also departed in the offseason to sign with Vancouver and Arizona could have trouble replacing his 20 goals. Mike Ribeiro and his 47 points in 2013-14 also are gone after the centerman had his contract bought out in the offseason.
Coyotes general manager Don Maloney doesn't have the luxury of a free-spending ownership group to fix his club's problems, but he attempted to address Arizona's offensive flaws by trading for centerman Sam Gagner in the offseason.
Maloney made several signings as well, but none of the free agents are expected to make major impacts. In fact, Maloney's biggest investment this summer came when he signed former Pittsburgh grinder Joe Vitale to a three- year, $3.3 million deal.
During his time with the Coyotes, Tippett has had a way of getting the most out of less than stellar rosters, but if the last two seasons are any indication his magic touch could be wearing thin. He squeezed an 89-point season out of last year's lineup, but it wouldn't take much for the club to drop off to the low 80s in 2014-15.
FORWARDS - When Ribeiro was bought out by the Coyotes in June, Maloney cited "behavior issues" as the reason for wiping out the four-year, $22 million contract after just one season.
Maloney is counting on Gagner to wash away the failed Ribeiro experiment, but other than being a former top-10 pick in the draft there's not a lot of evidence the 25-year-old can produce at a top-line level.
Gagner, the sixth overall pick by Edmonton at the 2007 draft, had an eight- point game for the Oilers during the 2011-12 season but that offensive explosion accounts for 2.7 percent of his total output (295 points) at the NHL level. Last season, he played in 67 games for the Oilers and recorded 37 points (10 goals. 27 assists) while playing third-line minutes.
The good news is Arizona didn't have to give up much to land Gagner, who came to Glendale along with B.J. Crombeen for a sixth-round pick in 2015. The bad news is there's a good reason Gagner why came at such a low cost.
Maloney is betting a change of scenery could do wonders for Gagner in his eighth NHL season. If the new setting doesn't do the trick, Tippett will likely use Antoine Vermette as the club's top centerman. Vermette led the Coyotes with 24 goals last season and also contributed 21 assists over 82 games.
There's also a chance Gagner could be moved to the wing if he fails to live up to Tippett's idea of two-way centerman.
Shane Doan is back for a 19th NHL season with the only franchise he's ever known and will take on his usual role as the club's captain and top right winger. Doan, who will turn 38 years old in the first week of the season, had a solid showing in 2013-14, posting 23 goals and 24 assists in 69 games. The power forward missed a chunk of the season with a mystery illness later diagnosed as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but Doan is ready to go for 2014-15.
Mikkel Boedker is a speedy, versatile winger who plays a two-way game and the 24-year-old Dane could find himself on the top line this season. Boedker, who can play either wing, set career marks in goals (19) and assists (32) last season.
Lauri Korpikoski could find himself in the top six for Arizona despite posting only 25 points (9G, 16A) in 64 games during an injury-plagued season in 2013-14. The 28-year-old Finnish winger is a sound defensive player and that never hurts when looking for playing time under coach Tippett.
Martin Erat also hopes to contribute more after a disappointing campaign split between the Washington Capitals and Coyotes. The 33-year-old winger had one goal and 23 assists in 53 games for the Caps before posting two goals and three assists in 17 games after getting dealt to Arizona.
Martin Hanzal, 27, is pegged as the club's third-line centerman after posting a career-high in points (40) last season despite playing in only 65 games. However, there isn't much offense left after Hanzal, unless highly-touted prospects like Max Domi or Henrik Samuelsson make the roster and produce as rookies.
Domi, son of former NHL enforcer Tie Domi, failed to make the team out of training camp last fall after being selected with the 12th overall pick at the 2013 draft. But his odds of making the NHL club have increased exponentially this time around. Unlike his father, the 19-year-old Domi concentrates more on scoring than throwing fists and he could make himself useful on a Phoenix club that is always looking to add offense.
Like Domi, Samuelsson also comes with an NHL pedigree. The 20-year-old son of Ulf Samuelsson grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona before getting selected by the Coyotes in the first-round (27th overall) of the 2012 draft. Despite being a year older than Domi, the younger player seems to have the better shot of sticking with the Coyotes this season.
Arizona's fourth line will likely consist of newcomers Crombeen and Vitale, who expects to center the energy line. Kyle Chipchura could play the left wing opposite Crombeen.
DEFENSE - Although the forward group is thin, with Yandle and Oliver Ekman- Larsson in the fold, Arizona will always generate plenty of offense from the back end.
Yandle, 28, led the club in points and assists (45) in 2013-14, while Ekman- Larsson supplied 15 goals to lead the blue line and also added 29 helpers.
Ekman-Larsson also led the Coyotes with an average ice time of 25 minutes, 53 seconds last season and the young blueliner's role could grow as he seems to improve with each successive season.
Having two defensemen with tremendous offensive skills is a boon for the Coyotes' power play, which ranked fourth in the league in efficiency last season.
Zbynek Michalek is a good fit for Ekman-Larsson on the top pairing, anchoring the duo with his a stay-at-home style. Michalek hopes to stay healthy in 2014-15 after recording 10 points (2G, 8A) and a plus-six rating in 59 games last season.
The puck-moving Yandle could be paired with 24-year-old Michael Stone, who contributes a heavy shot from the blue line. Stone, a third-round pick by the Coyotes in 2008, set personal bests in games played (70), goals (8) and assists (13) last season.
David Schlemko, 27, expects to battle for time on the third pairing along with Brandon Gormley and Connor Murphy, who were first-round picks by the Coyotes in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
GOALTENDING - The Coyotes may not need Smith to return to his form of 2011-12 to make the playoffs, but they do need him to improve upon his showing in 2013-14.
Smith posted a 27-21-10 record last season while logging a 2.64 goals against average and .915 save percentage. It was a far cry from his debut season with the Coyotes in 2011-12, when Smith finished fifth in the Vezina Trophy voting after going 38-18-10 with a 2.21 GAA, .930 save percentage and eight shutouts.
The good news for this season is Smith was playing his best hockey of the season before missing the last 10 games of the regular season due to a lower- body injury. The bad news is the ill-timed injury may have cost the Coyotes a spot in the playoffs, as the club went 3-4-3 down the stretch without Smith.
Smith was 2-2-1 with a 1.39 GAA in February and was 7-4-0 with 2.19 GAA in March before getting hurt.
If Smith regresses further this season, Arizona could begin to regret the six- year, $34 million contract extension the goaltender signed in the summer of 2013.
Maloney brought in Devan Dubnyk on a one-year, $800,000 contract to serve as Smith's backup. The 28-year-old began last season as the No. 1 netminder in Edmonton, but wound up being traded twice during the 2013-14 campaign, going to Nashville in January before getting shipped to Montreal less than two months later.
It was a trying season for Dubnyk, who only played two games for Nashville and none for the Canadiens. He was 11-18-3 with a 3.43 GAA and .891 save percentage in 32 total games, but perhaps a fresh start in the desert will get him back on track.
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE - When you think about it, it's pretty amazing the Coyotes finished anywhere near a postseason spot last season. Despite Doan's illness, Smith's late-season injury and whatever was going on with Ribeiro, the club had a chance to qualify for the playoffs right until the last few games of the season. As usual, Tippett deserves a ton of credit for getting the most from a moderately-priced roster and it would be foolish to count his team out of the playoffs before the season began. It isn't always a pretty brand of hockey, but it does seem to get the job done. Expect the same dogged effort from the newly-named Arizona Coyotes in 2014-15, although there's a good chance it ends with another near playoff miss.
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