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Mikkel Boedker Isn’t The Only Inconsistent Coyote In Arizona

By William Grigsby

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Mikkel Boedker and the Arizona Coyotes are wishy-washy

When you look at the Arizona Coyotes, they epitomize teams that should be doing better than they are — but they also epitomize a team that looks different every night.

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The inconsistent squad is led by two of the most inconsistent players in the NHL — Mikkel Boedker and Mike Smith — but the whole team is having trouble producing on a nightly basis.

The Coyotes sent future franchise cornerstones Brendan Perlini and Max Domi back to the OHL for the season, so there’s no need to get upset at the lack of an offensive presence. This team looks great one night and terrible the next, though — and if they have the talent to perform well one night, they need to prove they have that kind of talent every night.

  • At the half-way mark (41 games) this season, the Yotes have 35 points with a 16 W, 22 L, 3 OL record.
  • Last season their record at this point was: 20 W, 12 L, 9 OL for 49 points — a 14 point deficit. They missed the playoffs by two points — so one win or two overtime losses — last year.
  • So far this year, the team is a dismal 27th out of 30 teams in the NHL standings.
  • Last season, the team finished 18th out of 30.

The last month of games illustrate this team’s on again off again performance:

12/30:- 4-2 vs the Philadelphia Flyers (W)
1/1: 6-0 loss vs the Dallas Stars (L)
1/4: 6-3 win vs the Columbus Blue Jackets (W)
1/7: 6-0 loss vs the St. Louis Blues (L)
1/9: 4-1 win vs the Winnipeg Jets (W)
1/11: 5-1 loss vs the Ottawa Senators (L)
1/13: 3-2 vs the San Jose Sharks (L)
1/15: 4-1 vs the Calgary Flames (L)
1/17: 3-1 vs the Minnesota Wild (L)
1/18: 4-3 (OT/SO) vs the Winnipeg Jets (OTL)

The pattern is pretty clear — the team can’t remain strong and display good play for a sustainable period.

If a team can’t start to put wins together, their fate is doomed, and the playoffs are definitely a dream.. at best.

When you look at winning/losing streaks, some more details become apparent:

  •  Last season, the team didn’t have any losing streaks longer than two in their first 41 games (excluding overtime loss games)
  •  They did, however, have one 3 game winning streak plus a 5 game winning streak.
  •  This season, they’ve had two losing streaks of 3 games and one of 5 games. The longest winning streak has been just 3 games, which has occurred twice.

Home/Road record comparisons:

Last season: Home record = 11 W, 5 L, 3 OL — for 25 points

Road record = 9 W, 7 L, 6 OL — for 24 points

This season: Home record = 9 W, 10 L, 3 OL  (with a seven game losing streak) — for 21 points

Road record = 7 W, 11 L, 1 OL — for 15 points

All these numbers tell a tale of how this team has looked inconsistent from start to finish this season — and while Mikkel Boedker is one of the players who gets criticized most for going hot then cold, it takes an entire team to go on these kinds of roller coaster seasons. It has to destroy a team’s confidence — and give the coaching staff gray hair — to win big games and turn it around right before getting slayed by teams they have no business losing like this to.

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    • Our goaltending has been mediocre, especially by Mike Smith. He recently seemed to be coming out of it as well, only to turn into Dr. Jekyll and lose by large margins.

    Then there’s the defense, or shall we say the lack thereof; if you’ve viewed Coach Dave Tippett’s post game press conferences, they are sounding like reruns of your favorite TV show. He is sure to mention that Mike Smith has been getting exceptionally poor support in front of him, although you would expect better proficiency from a top paid six million dollar goalie. Devan Dubnyk had his moments before heading to Minnesota, but even he had fits of turning into Dr. Jekyll at times, although less frequently than his counterpart, Smitty.

    What I’ve noticed more than anything is how this team digs itself a hole early, falling too far early on to fight back. They’ll attempt to make comebacks, but just fall short.

    Is it lack of concentration? Or perhaps lack of players with enough skills to get the job done? Maybe, quite honestly, it’s a little of both.

    Injuries have played a role as well, although the team has not lost nearly as much playing time due to injuries as some other NHL teams this season. It cannot be ignored, though — when Martin Hanzal is injured, they seem to lose the energy they need to dig out the puck from the corners, and they have trouble screening the goalie without his huge frame.

    Mostly, it seems they are being outplayed way too often in their own zone. Puck possession, like any sport where your offense feeds off your defense, begins with tenacity and extreme effort. You can’t score if you don’t have the puck, or are playing in your defensive zone 70% of the game. The shots on goal illustrate that brutally.

    The Coyotes style of play needs to make a resurgence, and quickly. With the season now half gone, there is no time to say “we can still turn it around.”

    Players like Boedker, Sam Gagner, and Martin Hanzal need to step it up. Players like Yandle and Michalek — whose contracts are expiring at season’s end — need to be more consistent; if not for the team, then to increase their future value. Michalek’s +/- is not getting any better, and Boedker can score in spurts — but needs to become a clearer go-to guy. With this team’s weak offense, the veterans need to step up.

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    • The Yotes have given some of the up and coming rookies from Portland a chance to show what they have — and with Tobias Rieder, it has been a success. Lucas Lessio may be next, but I’m personally waiting for Henrik Samuelsson to make his presence. Big body, scoring touch, and placement are his specialty. We don’t care if you call them garbage goals — they all count.

    The one bright spot has been the power play, which ranks fifth with a 21.8 % success ratio. Newell Brown has done some magic to improve that part of the team’s play — but their penalty kill is the worst in the league. In the new year so far they are a terrible 71.8%… going the wrong direction.

    The other factor is not giving Mike Ribeiro more of a chance to turn his personal life around. Look at how he has done this season: 9 goals and 27 assists for 36 points in 41 games. Issues or not, we could use that production. Then, add in Radim Vrbata, who left for greener pastures in Vancouver. His stats are impressive as well: 16 goals (4 less than he had all last year with Arizona), 13 assists in 37 games, and an All-Star game selection. Along with the now terrible decision to sign Smith to a long term $5.6M a year contract, things look dismal. Hard to believe that Smith is dead last in goaltending stats… sad.

    Perhaps there is time to turn things around, but time is running short, and this team needs some wins. It won’t get there if they continue their hot and cold play.

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