Arizona Coyotes: An Outlook On The Forwards
By Alex Temes
This week, Howlin’ Hockey is breaking down the offensive core of the Arizona Coyotes, evaluating who gets to stay, who leaves and who fans should be looking at in free agency.
The overall forecast for the Arizona Coyotes both off and on the ice looks bright.
Off the ice, General Manager Don Maloney and his squad of ownership bosses are just weeks, possibly even days, away from breaking news on a new stadium elsewhere in the Valley. Since the organization’s falling out with the City of Glendale over an arguably lopsided leasing agreement regarding Gila River Arena during last offseason, the organization’s ownership has made strides in finding multiple prospective arena locations including noted options in Mesa, Scottsdale/Salt River Indian Reservation and in Tempe with some association to Arizona State University and their new NCAA Division 1 Men’s Ice Hockey team.
On the ice, the team had a strong run prior to back-to-back losses. Shane Doan is eyeing a 30 goal season, Max Domi is on the verge of surpassing the franchise record for assists and points in a rookie campaign and Oliver Ekman-Larsson is becoming a more and more viable Norris Trophy candidate by the game. In terms of overall production, the team has earned 21 more points (so far) than they did last season and have gone 7-5-1 in their last thirteen games.
Honestly, these last dozen games are a glimpse into what could have been if Mike Smith had not gotten hurt or continued doing his best Rex Grossman impression (if you don’t get the reference, check out Howlin’ Hockey’s goaltending outlook from last week).
However the season is nearly through and Howlin’ Hockey is finishing up its wrap up of positional outlooks by evaluating the forwards.
In the next few slides, we are gonna break down each of the current lines and their players, the players who are currently scratched or injured, prospects down on the farm in Springfield or playing junior hockey or abroad, as well as explore an enormous free agent class in order to best evaluate who should be on the roster for opening night in October.
First up, naturally, is the first line:
Next: First Line Forwards