Phoenix Coyotes

fire those engines….

Obviously, this is not the start to the season that the Coyotes or their fans would have wanted.  The team is 3-4 and has exhibited that a lack of defensive depth is affecting both the offense and defense.  Puck movement out of the defensive zone is not fluent enough and the younger forwards are having trouble generating the speed they need through the neutral zone.  Wayne Gretzky is going to have to mold this bunch ahead and the addition of defensemen will be apparent further down the road if they are to have success.

Phoenix ranks 29th in Goals for per game at 2.14, which is a bit of a surprise.  Olli Jokinen is the only player at a point per game pace with 1 goal and 6 assists in 7 games.  With only 16 shots, the Coyotes should look for his intensity to be ramped up and if line tinkering is the answer, look for that to be addressed.  Captain Shane Doan is second with 5 points and I think that the play of veteran Steven Reinprecht has been very good.  Defensemen Ed Jovanovski and Derek Morris are certainly performing well under expectations.  The goals against per game is at 3.14 which ranks them in the bottom third of the NHL as well.  Ilya Bryzgalov’s slow start has more than a little to do with that, as Zbynek Michalek and Kurt Sauer has proven to be reliable.

Faceoffs are absolutely brutal, ranking last in the NHL at 41.6% and again Reinprecht stands out.  The vet has the only winning percentage at 50.79% with 32 wins against 31 losses.  This needs to be figured out and I think that you can live with Jokinen’s 40% rate (ouch!) if Kyle Turris is moved to the wing, because his percentage has been abysmal as well.  Faceoffs are so key to puck possession.  Turris’ production would probably increase as well, though his four points are decent in my view.  He also needs more shots, as nine over seven games is shy of what could be.  Get more aggresive Kyle.  His blog can be read here.

So, all in all, things could be worse.  After two wins to open the season, Phoenix has dropped four of five.  WIth a number of practice days ahead before they welcome Sidney Crosby and the Penguins to the desert, look for some noticeable changes.  Do Viktor Tikhonov and Kevin Porter see more ice with some line changes?  Does Gretzky stand pat?  How will the defense respond?  Things are heating up in the season and the desert could be the leagues hotspot.