Coyotes History Throwback, Vol. V: Season 5

2000-2001 Season-  NO PLAYOFFS, TOO MANY TIES & BIG (I’m talkin’  STAR player) TRADES along with one young player moving towards stardom

The Phoenix Coyotes brought in the new century with a respectable season, to say the least.

Another fourth place finish in the Pacific Division made for some nice Coyotes consistency, but most importantly, the team finally hit 90 points! Don’t get too excited, though- they FAILED to make the playoffs, and became the first team to miss out on the postseason with that point total.

Yep- they tied Vancouver with 90 points, but by virtue of that tie, Vancouver got the nod since they won more games (36) than the Phoenix club (35).

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The Coyotes managed a 35-27-17-3 record. 17 ties- REALLY ?! If this didn’t precipitate the idea of having a shootout to end tie games, I’m not quite sure what would have done it.

To top things off, the Coyotes finished the last ten games of the season with a 4-3-2-1 record, while the Canucks dragged themselves to the finish line with a meager 2-5-3 record. They almost willed the 8th and final playoff spot to the Desert Dogs.

The leading scorer this season… SURPRISE…. was Jeremy Roenick with 30 goals and 46 assists in 80 games. Keith Tkachuk finished second with 29 goals and 42 assists for 71 points in just 64 games, while third on the list was (Drum Roll please… ) Shane Doan with 26 goals and 37 assists totaling 63 points in 76 games. Doaner had come into his own, bringing very respectable numbers and developing into more of a power forward with determination and grit as his guidelines.

SO, for the first time since their arrival from Winnipeg, the Phoenix fans would not experience the WHITE-OUT,  a tradition carried with them from Manitoba. In goal, Sean Burke was voted the NHL Player of the Month for October 2000. His 7-1-1 record with a 1.54 GAA and .950 save percentage made him an easy choice.

In other news from this fifth season:

• On Nov. 15, 2000- Brad May was suspended for 20 games for slashing Columbus Blue Jackets forward Steve Heinze in the nose with his stick. Heinze would need nine stitches, but returned to ice quickly. After the game, May apologized to Heinze, who accepted the apology. At the time, the 20-game suspension was the fourth longest in NHL history.
• Feb. 15, 2001- The sale of the Coyotes was finalized with an ownership group of Steve Ellman, Wayne Gretsky, and Jerry Moyes purchasing the team from former owner Richard Burke.
• Feb. 23, 2001- Jeremy Roenick scored his 400th career goal at Buffalo, becoming only the third U.S. born player in NHL history to accomplish that feat.
• March 5, 2001- Nikolai Khabibulin was traded to Tampa Bay with Stan Neckar for Paul Mara, Mike Johnson, and Rusian Zanullin (who never played a NHL game) and a second round pick in the 2001 draft. Khabibulin couldn’t agree on terms with the Coyotes, and the Lightning signed him to a three plus year deal worth $14.75 million in base pay.
• March 13, 2001- Keith Tkachuk was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy, Jeff Taffe and a 1st round pick in the 2002 draft.
• April 11, 2001- Unable to come to a suitable agreement with the City of Scottsdale for a new arena at Los Arcos, the Coyotes decided to go to Glendale. The Glendale City Council approved a new arena at the 101 Freeway and Glendale Avenue. Instead of delays and excuses they received from Scottsdale, Glendale acted quickly to attract the team and get the arena construction on it’s way to completion.

UP NEXT: COYOTES HISTORY THROWBACK, VOLUME VI: SEASON 6 (2001-2002)

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