GLENDALE, Ariz – After a long off-season the Arizona Coyotes stand once again at the dawn of a new Hockey season. In the hopes of avoiding another disastrous season like the one they had last year, the Coyotes hope to get off to a better start this season. It seems almost a foregone conclusion that they will. The Coyotes are not just a better team this year than last, they were a better team during the last half of last season than they were the first half. The Coyotes posted a record of 9-27-5 over last season’s first 41 games. Then the calendar turned to 2018. Their record over the last 41 games was 20-14-7. 
The key to the turnaround was the resurgence of goaltender Antti Raanta. He missed time early due to a couple of injuries and never quite found his groove in the first half, but once he came back healthy he became one of the steadiest goaltenders in the league down the stretch, posting a record of 16-6-4 during calendar year 2018 (compared to 5-11-2 during the 2017 portion of last season).
It’s safe to say that Raanta’s health will be a factor again this season, but Arizona GM John Chayka bought the team a little insurance policy with the acquisition of Darcy Kuemper from the L.A. Kings. Kuemper gives the Coyotes a capable backup who has proven more than adequate when asked to fill in for the injured Raanta. His addition gives the team a solid tandem in goal.
Chayka made a big splash in the off-season when he traded popular young winger Max Domi to the Montreal Canadiens for Center/Winger Alex Galchenyuk, who begins the season listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. In making the swap, Chayka exchanged a very talented, yet under-achieving center who wanted to be a winger for a very talented, yet under-achieving winger who wanted to be a center. It’s the kind of deal that could be beneficial for both sides. Domi is a little younger, but Galchenyuk has the potential to put up big offensive numbers; something the Coyotes need desperately. Galchenyuk seemed very excited at the Coyotes’ apparent intention to play him at his natural center position (where he scored 30 goals in 2015-16), and that could spark a resurgence in the highly-skilled forward. Unfortunately, Coyotes fans (and coaches) will have to wait and see how he comes back from his injury.
The Coyotes also signed free-agent Michael Grabner, a speedy winger who can kill penalties and score goals. He tallied 34 goals with the Islanders in 2010-11 and has netted 27 in each of the past two seasons. He’s a fast-skating, hard worker who should fit nicely into Tocchet’s system.
Another Tocchet-type player, Vinnie Hinostroza, came to the Coyotes in a trade from Chicago (along with defenseman Jordan Oesterle). He never quite found a permanent spot on the Blackhawks roster, but his speed and work ethic should make him a nice fit in Tocchet’s style of Hockey.
The team will once again count on the scoring prowess of young phenom Clayton Keller, who led the team in scoring during his rookie season last year and finished third in voting for the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year). He’ll need to avoid the so-called “sophomore slump”, but his strong finish at the end of last season would seem to indicate that he is more than capable of that.
His offense will likely be augmented by some of the usual suspects (Stepan, Perlini, Fischer, Dvorak, and Ekman-Larsson and Goligoski on the back end), plus Grabner and Hinostroza. Hopefully, some of the younger players will continue to progress and improve with experience. The Galchenyuk injury should open a door for either Dylan Strome or Laurent Dauphin, both of whom saw limited time with the Coyotes last season but looked good at AHL Tucson. Strome especially looked much-improved during his last callup to the big club. This could be a make-or-break year for him. The Coyotes are still waiting for him to turn into the player they expected when they drafted him third overall in 2015.
The defense will look a lot like it did last year (led by new Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niklas Hjalmarsson), but the absence of Jacob Chychrun (recovering from off-season knee surgery) will open a door for either Jordan Oesterle or Ilya Lyubushkin to get a look.
Essentially, the Coyotes have improved across the board from the roster that hit the ice on opening night last year. In addition, Tocchet has a year under his belt implementing his system and won’t need to spend the first month-or-so of the season teaching it to a whole new team. They should be able to hit the ground running this season and hopefully play more like the second-half Coyotes and not the first-half Coyotes.
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