Arizona Coyotes Preview

GLENDALE, Ariz – Heading into the 2019-2020 season, Arizona Coyotes fans are filled with hope.  For the last few seasons, it seems that that’s all they have.  But this year they have more reason for optimism than they have had in a long time.  With the sale of the team to California billionaire Alex Meruelo, they finally have the dedicated, deep-pocketed owner they’ve been looking for.  Meruelo is a proven quantity with a long history of taking over struggling businesses and turning them into thriving enterprises.  He is a mover and a shaker and he gets things done.  If anybody can push the team forward and help build their fan base and get them into a new, more centrally-located arena it’s Alex Meruelo. He is just what this franchise has needed for the better part of 2 decades now.

The next biggest change the Coyotes made was the acquisition of star winger Phil Kessel.  Phil is exactly the type of scoring winger that GM John Chayka was looking for last season when he traded popular young forward Max Domi to Montreal for Alex Galchenyuk.  Galchenyuk was injured in preseason and never quite turned into what Chayka was hoping for.  Chayka moved Galchenyuk to Pittsburgh (along with young defense prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph and a 4th round draft pick) in exchange for Kessel in hopes of bolstering the Coyotes’ anemic offense and lethargic power play.  Some people feel he is on the decline, but reuniting him with Rick Tocchet, his former Assistant Coach with the Penguins, could reignite the fire within him.  Many people (including Kessel) give Tocchet much of the credit for Phil’s success in Pittsburgh.  While he won’t have nearly the same quality of linemates he enjoyed with the Pens, he is an elite scorer and a proven winner who could make everybody around him better. This is the gamble the Coyotes are taking with him.  They are hoping the “Kessel Effect” accelerates the development of their young scorers. Time will tell.  If nothing else, he should immediately improve one of the worst power plays in the league.  Over the past 2 seasons, Phil scored 24 of his 61 goals and 78 of his 174 points on the power play.  Kessel’s biggest attribute might be his durability. He hasn’t missed a game in the last 9 seasons.  There’s not another player on the Coyotes roster who comes anywhere close to that.

In addition to Kessel, the Coyotes also added center Carl Soderberg from the Colorado Avalanche.  He should add more scoring punch to the team.  His 49 points last season would have led the Coyotes.  He is a consistent point producer and should see playing time on one of the top two lines.

The biggest question mark for the Coyotes this season will be health.  Can Raanta stay healthy for a full season?  Will the Coyotes once again be decimated by injuries?  Do they have enough organizational depth to withstand any injuries they do suffer?

The first of those questions is already in doubt.  Raanta will begin the season on a conditioning assignment with Tucson to work himself back into game shape after missing significant time last season with a lower body injury.  This is cause for concern for Coyotes fans, but could just be precautionary.  Hopefully it’s not a sign of Raanta being less than 100%, health-wise.

The other half of the Coyotes’ goaltending tandem, Darcy Kuemper, was recently signed to a 2-year contract extension, locking him up for the next three years.  Brought in as an insurance policy against the possibility of a Raanta injury, he proved himself worth every penny.  Kuemper ended up starting 55 games last season, ranking in the top 12 in Save Percentage and Goals Against Average and tied for 6th in the league in Shutouts.  He has established himself as a legitimate #1 starter, or at the very least, part of a strong #1A-#1B tandem.  If Raanta can come back healthy, there should be strong competition for the starting job with the Coyotes this season.

The second question remains to be seen, but the Coyotes are entering the season nearly injury free and certainly as healthy as they’ve been in a long time.  While they began last season with 3 of their regular starters on Injured Reserve, this season they seem to be ready to ice their full complement at the start of the season.  How long that holds remains to be seen, but at least they’re starting off healthy for a change.

The question of depth was largely answered last season, out of necessity.  Much of last year’s roster was made up of call-ups brought in to replace injured players, and many of them performed admirably with the big club.  The Coyotes barely missed a beat, despite losing player after player for significant time due to injury…and not just any players, but many of the team’s top players. That was the big surprise of last season, that they managed to stay in the running for a playoff spot into the last two weeks of the season with a roster that was missing as much as 1/3 of their projected major league lineup on any given night.  Several of those players remain and could see time again this season.  One of them, Conor Garland, made such an impression last season that he stuck with the Coyotes this season out of training camp.  He displayed a nose for the net and the kind of grit and determination that Rick Tocchet seems to love.   

The Coyotes’ two greatest strengths last season were goaltending and penalty killing.  The penalty kill may have taken a hit when the team decided not to renew the contract of Assistant Coach Scott Allen.  He was the architect of one of the best PK units in the NHL last season.  Their 85.0% success rate had them tied for best in the league, and their 12 shorthanded goals ranked second.  Their penalty kill was not only among the best in the league, but also one of its most potent offensive weapons for the first half of the season.  They led the league in shorthanded goals for much of the season (until Michael Grabner and his league-leading 6 shorties missed half the season with an injury).  Michael Grabner and Brad Richardson are both back and healthy to lead the PK unit, now under the guidance of Coyotes Assistant Coach John MacLean, who will cede his power play coaching duties to new Coyotes Assistant Coach Phil Housley.

One area where the Coyotes have the greatest hope and expectation of improving is the power play.  They proved inept all last season, even after their big off-season acquisition Alex Galchenyuk rejoined the lineup from a stint on the IR.  One of the reasons he was brought in was because of his scoring prowess, especially on the power play.  Now he is gone, replaced by Phil Kessel.  Kessel has shown great effectiveness on the power play over the last couple of seasons in Pittsburgh, scoring nearly half of his points with the man advantage.  His presence on the Coyotes PP, along with new Assistant Coach Phil Housley, is expected to provide a boost in extra-man situations.  Many expect improvement in this area because, frankly, there isn’t anywhere to go but up.

The Coyotes will also count on improvement from a number of returning players, both bouncing back from injury-riddled seasons and returning to form after disappointing performances.

Nick Schmaltz showed a tremendous amount of promise in a very small sample size after coming over from Chicago in the trade for Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome.  He tallied 14 points in 17 games, with 4 of his 5 goals and 7 of his 14 points coming on the power play.  He was instrumental in one of the few flashes of effectiveness in the Coyotes’ power play.  Coupled with Phil Kessel, and coached by Phil Housley, he could help return the Coyotes PP to respectability.

Clayton Keller followed up a stellar rookie campaign (where he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting) with a disappointing second season.  While certainly not the only 2nd-year player to suffer from a “sophomore slump”, he should be motivated to come back and have a big season.  I expect him to benefit from the “Kessel Effect” and return to his earlier form.

Another player who needs to have a bounce-back year is Derek Stepan.  Despite a noticeable drop-off last season (Stepan himself has referred to his game last season as “hot garbage”, though I think he’s being a little hard on himself), Stepan is still probably the team’s best center.  He is defensively responsible and plays a strong 200-foot game.  If his offense can return to form he’ll be one of the team’s steadiest performers once again.

If the Coyotes can avoid the deluge of injuries they faced last year there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to improve their record this season.  For the first time in the last seven seasons, Coyotes fans have good reason to be optimistic. Hope is a wonderful thing.

The Coyotes lost their season opener, 2-1 to the Ducks in Anaheim.