Arizona Coyotes Defense Duos Getting It Done

The Arizona Coyotes have found some good support for Mike Smith on their blue-line.

No one knows better than Head Coach Dave Tippett that the defense for the Arizona Coyotes had to improve this season in order to succeed. Tippett’s entire career has been focused on having a defense which dominates games, setting up the offense to score. This season is not any different. That was why he wanted to bring back a steady, defenseman in Zbynek Michalek. And, he already knew what Nicklas Grossmann could bring to the table from when he coached him in Dallas in 2008-09.

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Defensive pairing breakdown

It all starts with one of the rising stars of the NHL and the Arizona Coyotes – Oliver Ekman-Larsson. This season, as was tried last season, he will be paired with Michael Stone. The two complement each other since OEL is more of an offensive blue-liner, and Stone is a stay-at-home variety.

Then, newly acquired Nicklas Grossmann has been teamed up with Connor Murphy. A perfect match, since Murphy is in his second full season, still learning, and who better to mentor and teach him than a solid veteran defenseman like Grossmann? Grossmann has been used on the penalty kill, and that really aids that unit, with his size and experience. Murphy loves playing with Grossman, so it’s worked out well.

The last pairing is Zbynek Michalek and Klas Dahlbeck. Again, a veteran with a young player with promise is the way to go. Michalek didn’t waste any time scoring in the first game against the Kings. Dahlback has size and mobility, which always helps. He can learn quite a bit about blocking shots, and defending your zone from the savvy Michalek.

Defense statistics

While the defense isn’t known for scoring, Michalek has already started on his quest to outscore OEL this season… good luck with that Z. What D-men are known for is hits, blocked shots, and assists by setting up their forwards for scoring opportunities.

So far, only Ekman-Larsson and Murphy have assists. In the “hits” department Michalek leads that stat with a team high six (don’t forget he missed game two against the Penguins), along with newly acquired Steve Downie (no surprise there).

In blocked shots playing alongside of Michalek has worn off on Dahlbeck, who leads the team in blocks, with three. The entire remainder of defensemen all has two blocks each, which tells me that Mike Smith has some added protection this season, which was lacking last year.

When you look at the Corsi rating for the defensemen it shows that the Grossmann/Murphy tandem has the best marks. Grossmann comes in at 52.6, and Murphy at 50.0. That shows good puck control, which was another defeating stat from last season. Above 50% means the team was controlling the puck more often than not with that player on the ice.

The next best in Corsi on the blue-line was the team of OEL/Stone. Stone has a 42.6, while OEL has 40.0. They are followed by the duo of Michalek (34.5)/Dahlbeck (41.2).

All these numbers mean nothing if the goaltending doesn’t stand strong. It has done exactly that this season, thus far. Much has been said about Mike Smith’s performance in this new season, and he feels the youthful addition that has been instilled in this team has rejuvenated the team’s performance. It gets the veterans going, and the entire team is instilled with energy. If you watched any Arizona Coyotes games last season, the difference compared to this season’s team is self-evident.

The big question now becomes, can they keep it up?

Next: Arizona Coyotes Line Combinations Working Well

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