Injured Arizona Coyotes players working their way back to full fitness
The Arizona Coyotes have been without some of their key players due to injury but it appears that they are starting to work their way back on to the ice.
Prior to the opening day of the season, and even further back, the Coyotes had injuries suffered by Jakob Chychrun, Christian Dvorak, Dylan Strome and summer acquisition Alex Galchenyuk.
Losing four of their top players would impact any NHL team heavily, with the Coyotes finding it difficult to score goals in their opening two games before a 3-2 shootout victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3.
Strome is the only player of the four that managed to return to the line-up in time to open the 2018/19 season and the 21-year-old has been in fine form.
Being pushed back into a centre role, Strome has one goal but has also been dominant in the face-off circle – posting a 69.2% success rate currently.
Starting in the offensive zone 58.6% of the time has seen him post an impressive 62.1% Corsi rating – contributing heavily to the team’s solid performances in their two losses against the Duck and Dallas Stars.
The team is still hurting for goals, however, and Strome can’t be expected to carry the load all the team – though he has finally started to show the promise the team saw in him when they selected him 3rd overall in 2015.
The latest, per Arizona Coyotes Senior Director of News Content Dave Vest, is that the team has had two of their other injured players return to training earlier this week.
Defenceman Chychrun and centre Dvorak were back in training two days ago, both wearing non-contact jerseys to help shelter them from potentially aggravating their injuries.
Seeing Chychrun and Dvorak return to the ice will be a huge morale boost for the team, with both players set to have key roles on the team as the season progresses.
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Dvorak has been a 15-goal scorer in both of his first two seasons in the NHL and could look to increase that total with this year’s team.
The Coyotes need a goalscoring spark from somewhere and 15 goals is nothing to sniff at.
But there is still no further updates on a player that has scored over 20 goals twice in his career, one of those seasons seeing him reach the 30-goal mark.
Galchenyuk was listed week-to-week prior to the opening game against Dallas and he is still not looking ready to return just yet.
The Coyotes’ summer acquisition is arguably the biggest name on their injury list and his impact on the team is needed if they hope to put last season behind them.
Once all three players return to full fitness, the Arizona Coyotes will have a team ready to compete every night and still potentially sneak into the playoffs.
With Chychrun and Dvorak returning to limited training this week, things are finally starting to look positive on the injury front.
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What do you think Coyotes fans? Are you pleased to see Chychrun and Dvorak back on the ice? How long do you foresee Galch being sidelined for? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!