NHL Team

*Sigh* the Coyotes, the unloved ones. As far as I can remember, Arizona's team always had difficulties. Sometimes it was the coach, sometimes the GM, sometimes the president and even when they brought a good team together, the player didn't perform at their full capacities. So what 2020-2021 will reserve to the Arizona Coyotes. We will try to answer this question after an overview of their current situation.

Firstly, the arrivals and departures for the 'Yotes. Only three minor arrivals, and all three are offensive players. Tyler Pitlick, John Hayden and Johan Larsson will try to bring depth to Rick Tocchet's team. Three bottom six players who need to bring defensive and toughness to an offence with good assets. The departures are more numerous. Taylor Hall, Vinnie Hinostroza, Brad Richardson, Carl Soderberg and Michael Grabner all left or were not offered a contract to stay. Some big names like Taylor Hall who's still a big offence threat for the other team. Even if we can agree that is inconstancy has always been a problem, the abilities of the 2018 MVP are undeniable. After two great season for him, Hinostroza was disappointing in 2019-2020. With only 22 points in 68 games, the Chicago native center signed with the Florida Panthers. If you ask me, it gives more room for Barrett Hayton to play good minutes if he plays well at the start of the season. Now, the loss of Brad Richardson, Michael Grabner and Carl Soderberg is a way for the Coyotes to rejuvenate the team.

Secondly, let's talk about the three aspects of the 'Yotes. Beginning with the offence, who's important core is young and powerful, but the veterans aren't what they were once. I'm thinking about Phil Kessel and Derek Stepan. You add Tyler Pitlick who never really became the player he was supposed to be. The 31st overall pick in 2010 never fully reach is potential. Christian Dvorak and Nick Schmaltz will be important for the Arizona. They will be key players to give depth to this squad. Lawson Crouse is one player who can't really play like we thought he would when we saw is junior progress, but if he finally gets things moving the Coyotes will have to be taken seriously. Clayton Keller will have to bring a lot more if the 'Yotes want to have a chance to go further in the playoffs than the previous years. He is one talented forward but the last two years were a lot harder than his recruit year so we can expect more from him. I'm hoping for the Coyotes that Barrett Hayton is NHL ready. If it's the case, that will be a game changer for their 2020-2021 campaign. Continuing with the defence. I can't think of anything really bad to say about those six defencemen. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (OEL) is one of the top defenders in the entire league. Hjalmarsson and Chychrun are two good players to complete a top 3. Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers and Jordan Oesterle are solid defence players who compensate for a lack of depth from the offence. The only negative point is that the defence is aging. With their younger defenceman being 28 years old, the Arizona Coyotes will need to bring younger defencemen to the table if they want to keep a great defensive core. Finalizing with the goaltenders. In front of the net, Arizona got two great keepers. Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta were one of the best duo last year. They played nearly the same amount of game and got similar statistics and it will probably be the same next season.

Finally, can we answer our question? I don't think they are near a Stanley Cup. They will clearly fight for a playoff spot. The Coyotes have good assets but I think it is too much imponderables. They really need everyone to perform at their max capacity each night if they want to be a top team and even then they’d better not have a lot of injured players because it will be a lot more difficult. For those reasons I think the 'Yotes are practically the same team as last year and they are in the same spot too.

ML