Arizona Coyotes Continue Disappointing Final Stretch

Fear And Loathing In The Defensive End

Let’s get this out of the way. Nicklas Grossmann should not be dressing for the Arizona Coyotes in the post Tinordi/Connauton acquisition era.

Quite a few Coyotes’ players have a much harder time on the ice with Grossmann than they do without him. He’s a possession black hole on a team that’s already bad in possession. Head coach Dave Tippett cannot afford to have that kind of drag on the back-end.

Beyond Grossmann, this losing stretch has been a masterclass example of the bad decisions and positioning that has hampered the Yotes throughout the season.

Bad pinches are a fact of life if you’re watching this team on the ice. Those decisions often lead to unimpeded breakaway attempts on goal, and regularly lead to pointless penalties taken by the Coyotes as they must hook and clutch and trip to bring down whatever opposing player they’ve allowed to get the jump on them.

In the above play, the Coyotes turn over the puck in the offensive zone and Oliver Ekman-Larsson closes to keep the puck in the zone but fails to do so. The Flyers flip it out (and get a fortunate bounce off the linesman) and get an easy 2-on-1 rush for a goal.

Puck watching and forgetting about the trailing man is another issue that has plagued the Arizona Coyotes.

Against Pittsburgh during a period of 4-on-4 hockey, three Arizona Coyotes players followed a failed centering pass from Patric Hornqvist leaving Kris Letang all alone as he skated in from the blue line to the top of the slot.

Then there are the times the defense just falls asleep at the wheel.

I’m not even sure how to explain what happened with Zbynek Michalek and Kevin Connauton on Scott Laughton‘s first period goal in Philadelphia on February 27th.

Suffice to say the Arizona Coyotes defending issues are deep and varied. Some of it is a lack of talent and too many bottom pairing defensemen getting minutes and not enough above average defenders to round that out.

Some of the issues are completely self-induced, however, and it’s disheartening that the Yotes are this far into the season and the same miscues continue to happen night in and night out.

Next: Rollercoaster In Net