Arizona Coyotes Downfall This Season

This will go down as the WORST season in history for the Arizona Coyotes

With only nine games remaining on their schedule, the Arizona Coyotes will not be anywhere close to eclipsing the team record low of 67 points they had during the ’06-’07 season; for that matter or the 68 points they garnered during the ’03-’04 season is also beyond reach. The best they can do is finish with 68 points, which isn’t going to happen.

They have some tough games remaining against teams in the playoffs, or in contention to get in the top 16 teams. They must play the Red Wings, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, San Jose (home and home), Calgary, Vancouver, and Anaheim to finish the books off to this dismal season. I see possibly 2-4 points they may be able to collect. That will put them a good 13 points below the disappointing ’06-’07 season.

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So, being a fan of a team who has made it to the playoffs eight out of eighteen seasons here in Arizona, you start scratching your head and ask “What exactly happened? What caused this team to crash and burn?”

Here’s some factors which contribute to a team’s demise:

Injuries — Have the Arizona Coyotes had some sustainable injuries which hurt their chances at succeeding this season? ABSOLUTELY. Losing Mikkel Boedker, AND Martin Hanzal for a majority of the last half of the season hurt the front line forwards productivity without a doubt. All teams must contend with injuries, and the difficult part was losing Boedker after he was having a breakout year. Now, Hanzal is a different situation where he had missed quite a few games leading up to the realization that he needed back surgery. Without Boedker’s speed, and Hanzal’s big body to screen the opposing goalie, the writing was on the boards. Between these two forwards they missed the equivalent of a full season — 82 games !

Young players still developing — This was apparent mostly with the young defensemen like Gormley, Murphy, Summers, and Stone. Even with veterans like Yandle, Michalek, and Ekman-Larsson the young defense was giving up goals, and having defensive breakdowns on a regular basis. Playing too much in their own defensive zone was another issue the young D-men need to address for next season. Last time I checked you need to get out of your own zone, and attack the opposing team in THEIR defensive zone to score. Well, except for that miracle shot by OEL just inside the red line when he caught the goalie Jonathan Bernier of the Maple Leafs by surprise.

Goaltending woes — Boy…this was the team’s real discrepancy. Mike Smith had an absolute horrid season, he would be the first to agree with that synopsis. He has got to feel awful earning the money his team awarded him for a total of six years at $5.6 M a year. He gave up some goals which he shouldn’t have, and the team lost confidence in his goaltending abilities. That became evident when the Arizona Coyotes started playing his backup Devan Dubnyk. Same team in front of Dubnyk, but with much better results.

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It is my belief that when the team traded Dubnyk to the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 15, 2015, that the management decided to re-evaluate it’s objectives. The result was astounding. As poorly as Smith played, Dubnyk took his new team back into the playoffs within a 29 game span. He collected some Smith-like stats with 22 W, 6 L, 1 OT, 5 SO, a 1.76 GAA, and .935 SV%. Can goaltending make a difference? You bet it can, and if Smith doesn’t get back to his level of play the team thought he was already at — next season will be interesting as to what they do with him. He has a no trade clause in his contract as well. The team put their confidence in him, and he has come up short. To his credit, he has improved his level of play, but has not had any offensive support to win games.

Failures to keep the lead — This was a pressing problem most the season. The team looked like they were snapping out of losing streaks, only to fail and keep the lead in games. This can be attributed to the fact stated above that they played in their end way too much, had poor possession numbers, and gave up a ton of shots on net. In the last four games alone the Arizona Coyotes have been outshot 145 to 113. If the defense was adequate, it helps the offense get chances, and that didn’t happen very often this season.

RESULTS: 21 wins, 44 losses, 8 OL for just 50 points. Usually when a team underperforms this drastically general managers are fired, coaches are replaced, a house cleaning is done. I don’t think that will happen, and the reason I say that is when new majority owner Andrew Barroway took over the reins of this team he met with the coaches and general manager to evaluate where they are as a team.

They have a plan, and it may take a couple years to get this team competitive again. Taking into consideration all the draft picks they have accumulated, and the promising young players like Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, Henrik Samuelsson, Christian Dvorak, and the possibility of a Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel… well optimism is alive and well in Arizona. They are doing it the right way, building from the draft. Good, successful teams like the Blackhawks and Red Wings have shown that method works, now it’s time for Arizona to put it to the test.

Next: Arizona Coyotes Editorial: As a Fan I'm Frustrated

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