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Coyotes History Throwback, Volume VI: 2001-2002 Season

By William Grigsby

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NO Jeremy Roenick or Captain Tkachuk, a Breakout Year for Daniel Briere, and Another Playoff Berth

Season six for the Phoenix Coyotes started out with the loss of Jeremy Roenick to free agency, when he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Add to that the trading of Captain Keith Tkachuk to the Blues, and this team looks way different. Talk about cutting payroll!

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    • Then, Daymond Langkow  was acquired July 2, 2001 via a trade by Philadelphia for Phoenix’s 2nd round choice (later traded to Tampa Bay, later traded to San Jose – San Jose selected Dan Spang) in 2002 Entry Draft, and Phoenix’s 1st round choice (Jeff Carter) in 2003 Entry Draft.

    Yep, we could have had Jeff Carter… you know, the awesome center who now plays for the L.A. Kings and averages .74 points a game?THAT Jeff Carter.

    So, the Flyers got J.R., and Phoenix got Daymond Langkow- who wound up being the leading scorer for the 01-02 season on the team, with 62 points (27 goals, 35 assists). A new young player took over the goal scoring lead, though- by the name of Daniel Briere.

    His 32 goals and 28 assists, 60 points- along with 12 power play goals- helped Coyote fans forget that Roenick and Tkachuck, their top two scorers, were gone. (Well… as much as you can forget two of the franchise’s cornerstone players). Finishing third behind Briere was Shane Doan, who fell off his good season a year ago, to accumulate just 49 points (20 goals and 29 assists).

    After the final whistle for the regular season was blown, the Yotes looked back on a very productive season with their highest point total as a franchise- posting a 40-27-9-6 season for 95 points.

    This was good for 2nd in the Pacific Division, and tied for sixth in the Western Conference with the L.A. Kings. Since Phoenix had  7 points in head to head competition as opposed to just 3 by the Kings, the Yotes won the tie breaker. And for that honor, their opponent in the playoffs was… the Sharks. Phoenix managed to split the first two games in San Jose, but sealed their fate by dropping games 3 and 4 in Phoenix. Game 5 in San Jose determined that the Coyotes hockey season was over.

    To recap the season:

    • March 3, 2002- Teppo Numminen played his 1,000 NHL game vs Columbus, becoming the first player in franchise history to play 1,000 Coyotes/Jets games.
    • April 1, 2002-  Sean Burke, for the second straight season, was named the NHL Player of the Month due to his 9-1-0 record, 1.70 GAA and .940 save percentage for March.
    • April 3, 2002-  Team owners Steve Ellman, Jerry Moyes and Wayne Gretsky participated in a groundbreaking  ceremony, along with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs, the Glendale City Council along with Coyotes players and staff for the new arena in Glendale, AZ.
    • June 20, 2002- Head Coach Bob Francis wins the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year. This made Francis and his father, Emile, the first father-son coaching tandem in NHL history to win the award.

    With a new arena in the works, and the team playing competitive hockey, a bright future seemed in order, or was it?

    NEXT:  2002-2003 Season – With Tkachuk, and Roenick both gone will this team recover?

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