Arizona Coyotes Toby Rieder Nixing Sophmore Jinx

Arizona Coyotes forward Toby Rieder must not have heard about this sophomore jinx, the way he is playing.

For second year Arizona Coyotes’ player Toby Rieder, he may be aware of the jinx, but so far has no signs of it being an issue. He has checked the jinx into the corner Plexiglas hard, and it’s not getting up.

With two goals and one assist in his first two second year games with the Arizona Coyotes, he is showing any skeptics that he is for real.

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Much of it has to do with who your line-mates are. This season Rieder has a healthy Martin Hanzal as his center-man, and fellow speedster Anthony “Tony D” Duclair as his opposite winger. The results have been as staggering as the Coyotes’ unlikely start. Hanzal has three assists also, and Duclair has looked awesome with two assists to add to the line’s success thus far.

Rieder’s success has everything to do with chemistry on his line. Hanzal, at 6’ 6”, 230 gets into the corners and does the dirty work to retrieve the puck. Besides that, if he gets in front of the opposing goalie to screen him, the results are going to always be positive. A rebound, or a deflection can come Hanzal’s way, and that creates scoring possibilities.

The other factor with Hanzal is he can get some attention from opposing players when he’s in front of their net, causing another offensive player to wheel and deal. Enter Anthony Duclair with his smooth skating, and deceptive speed. He showed it in the Pittsburgh Penguins game when he went behind the Pens net with ease, as the defense was distracted by big Marty being in front of the net.

Duclair, who like his rommie and best friend Max Domi has excellent ice vision to pass the puck to the open man. He crafted a slick pass through traffic to Rieder, who was wide open in the slot. Goal #2 for Tody Rieder. They can run that play against other teams, and it will be successful until the rest of the league figures out their moves.

The way the Hanzal/Rieder/Duclair is going they will be used on the power play as well, since their scoring has been exceptional.

Rieder has phenomenal speed, and he goes by defenders before they know what hit them. That was the intention of GM Don Maloney for this season’s team. To increase their speed, give the younger players a shot at succeeding, and hope that the defense and goaltending gets back on track.

So far, it all seems to be working. The season is still young, and tonight the Arizona Coyotes must face the Western Conference Finals participant Anaheim Ducks at the Duck Pond.

Can the magic of Reider continue? Can the Arizona Coyotes play three top teams in the league and come away undefeated? It could happen, especially if Toby Rieder gets some touches, and continues to impress with his outstanding play in this 2015-16 season.

Speeder Rieder has turned some heads with his play thus far this season. Let’s hope that jinx is just a myth for him.

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