Road to the Playoffs thread

[Scott MS]

Okay, I've been to three games this season. A pre-season game against the Stars which the Coyotes won 3-2, the opener against the Islanders (6-3 win), and now tonight's 6-2 win over the Oilers. I haven't seen anything but goals and wins!! I'm also going to the game on Saturday vs. the Rangers.

Coyotes played pretty well tonight, but the Oilers looked pretty flat. I imagine that the 6-2 pounding they took from the Ducks last night was also a factor tonight.

LeNeveu looked pretty damn good. I was concered when I saw him starting, but he was impressive. Guys played tough and with some grit tonight. A couple of major changes: 1. Doan was out, 2. Yandle has been replaced by Matt Jones (he's pretty damn solid, in my opinion), and 3. Saprykin was back after 3 games scratched.

 

[Ryanwb]

Don MacLean, welcome to the power play!

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

How about David LeNeveu? Only 2 goals off of 34 shots, Lenny turned in by far the best effort by a Coyote goaltender this season.

Big Georges had a slick goal, and you can see he was ecstatic afterwards. He knows that will probably be the only one he scores this season, heh. For all the talk of Nolan being over the hill and out of playing shape, he now has three goals for the Yotes. Nice to see Nagy and Comrie find the back of the net as well, they really need to kick it in gear. MacLean is already making an impact with a goal and an assist tonight. Jones also did well in his first game. I am surprised Yandle was benched tonight, he is even in +/- and he hasn't been a defensive liability like Seidenberg, but they got the win so I won't complain.

 

[Scott MS]

I thought Matt Jones played pretty well. Seemed to always be in position.

 

[howlincoyote2k1]

Ballard should be coming back in what, two weeks? When he gets back, I think Seidenberg is the odd man out.

Good, solid win over a team that's had our number so far this year, including the preseason. Hopefully we keep the momentum going against the Rangers. Hopefully I can grab a ticket to that one, because I'd like to go.

Oh, and we are now officially 1-0 at jobing.com arena.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

*Gambo Warning*

Gambo said that the Coyotes are talking with the Sharks about goaltender Evgeni Nabokov in exchange for Nick Boynton. There are a lot of complications to such a deal, though. For one, Nabokov makes $5M a year for the next 4 seasons and he also has a no trade clause. I would think that San Jose would be scared to death of trade a goaltender to a division rival after dealing Kiprusoff and watching him become an MVP-calibre goalie. I really would rather not deal Boynton, as our defense is already too unbalanced as we have a lot of offensive defensemen but not enough true defensive defensemen.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

nabby could carry this team to playoff contention - had a hard time last year, but seems to have recovered pretty well this year, however the staff loves toskala

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Phoenix loses 7-3 to the Broadway Blueshirts

Another completely horrid game by the Coyotes. Lenny played about as well as a goalie can play in such a lopsided game. Many of the seven goals tonight weren't his fault, the defense was nonexistant for much of the game. His own defenseman fell on him for one goal, another he was run into without a call, and two others he had absolutely no chance on (one Jagr batted the puck right out of the air, and on the other the defense completely broke down and let a Ranger hang around alone in the slot). Nevertheless, there were a couple weak goals that just shouldn't happen.

The defense was atrocious tonight. They gave the Rangers far too much time and space to make plays and you simply can't do that to a team that has playmakers like Jagr, Shanahan, Straka, etc. Nick Boynton was a -5 tonight in less than 14 minutes played. I am a big Enver Lisin fan, but he is going to have to improve on his defense. He was a -4 tonight and is a -12 on the season. I think his problem is that he has only a few games of experience on the North American sized ice, and many European players have a tough time making the transition at first. Ideally you would like to see Lisin learn these things in the AHL but with the team as desperate as they are it looks like Enver will be getting a crash course.

Ladislav Nagy and Mike Comrie combine for a grand total of ZERO shots again tonight. Hard to win when your two most talented scorers won't even shoot the freaking puck. Those two might be on their way to a benching.

As for the few positives, Matt Jones had his first career NHL goal, as did Patrick Fischer. Fischer's goal was an absolute beauty, he stole the puck from Jagr in the slot and then beat Lundqvist on a nice move. Freddie Sjostrom had the best goal of the night in a losing effort, he went started out with the puck in front of his own net, burst through the neutral zone, split the two defenders, and put the puck past the goalie as he was falling to the ice. I can't wait to see that goal again, hopefully it pops up on the internet somewhere. Other than that, another disappointing night, and very few positives to point out.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

THN's take:

Hi Adam,

As a Coyotes season ticket holder, I'm becoming more depressed with each passing day and I sit at the games (in a half-empty arena) thinking, "I spent money for this?"

The off-season moves looked good and, for the most part, appeared to benefit the Coyotes. I was a little concerned about the signings of Jeremy Roenick and Owen Nolan, but those seem to be working out OK. I just can't figure out what the problem is.

I'm wondering if Wayne Gretzky is one of the many superstars who was a magician on the ice as a player, but isn't coaching material. We've seen that in all sports many times. What do you think about Gretzky as coach and how to fix the Coyotes in general? Thanks.

- Jeff Rich, Avondale, Arizona

Jeff,

Much to my current dismay, I was one of Phoenix’s biggest off-season boosters. I think the injuries to Steve Reinprecht and Keith Ballard put a serious dent in the Coyotes’ chances this year, and they need Curtis Joseph to be much better than he’s been so far. Gretzky is the easy target, but I don’t know that it’s entirely his fault, and there’s still time to right the ship.

I’d say the real heat should be on Ulf Samuelsson, the associate coach who handles the blueline, to get Nick Boynton (-5), Dennis Seidenberg (-8), and Derek Morris (-4) playing as they’re capable of playing.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/news/news.asp?idNews=22094

 

[howlincoyote2k1]

THN's take:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/news/news.asp?idNews=22094

Wow. I was going to get season tickets for this year, too.

I'm sure glad I didn't. I don't want to spend $680 on 30+ nights of aggravation. Yet, for some reason, I continue to go to the games.

Masochism aside, I just don't know what to say. After a bright spot against a pretty good team in the Oilers, we went right back to our sucking ways. Nobody was skating, nobody could pass. It seems like the defense completed more passes to the Rangers than to the Yotes. This is just ridiculous. I don't know what to say anymore.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Phoenix and San Jose were close to striking a deal in which the Coyotes would have acquired goaltender Evgeni Nabokov in exchange for a package featuring defenseman Nick Boynton, but talks broke down late in the week, The Post has learned.
The Coyotes have been shopping Boynton, whom they acquired from Boston this summer before signing him to a three-year deal at $2.95 million a year. The Sharks, on the other hand, are seeking to move Nabokov, who has four years to go on a contract under which he earns $5.375 million and has become expendable with the emergence of the cheaper ($1.375 million) Vesa Toskala.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10292006/sports/rangers/rangers_in_7th_heaven_rangers_larry_brooks.htm

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Yeah, this is getting really depressing. They should start selling tickets for $1 if they want people to come.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Keith Yandle was sent back down to San Antonio today, but I am guessing that he will be back fairly soon. On a positive note, Keith Ballard should be back in about two weeks, so with the Coyotes prolonged break this week he should not miss very many more games.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Joel Perrault was claimed off of waivers today by St. Louis.

 

[Scott MS]

Joel Perrault was claimed off of waivers today by St. Louis.

That's not good news. I assume they were sending him back down to San Antonio and he got picked up?

Not sure how the whole waiver process works, but Perrault is only 23 and he seems to have some upside.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

That's not good news. I assume they were sending him back down to San Antonio and he got picked up?

Not sure how the whole waiver process works, but Perrault is only 23 and he seems to have some upside.

Yeah, they were trying to send him down to SA and got snagged. Perrault had played too many pro games to be waiver exempt. If the Blues at some point this season try to send him to their AHL team (very good chance), the Coyotes can claim him and immediately send him to San Antonio.