The Coyotes did nothing this week - didn't add anyone at the deadline, didn't win any games.
The only thing they did do was lose ground in the playoffs, and it wasn't pretty.
The Coyotes played a goodgame Tuesday with the return of Darcy Kuemper - and lost 2-1.
Classic Coyotes: play alright, refuse to score. (Though I'm not sure how it's possible to go a whole NHL game without getting a single power-play).
In fact, this game completely encapsulates the Coyotes' season: They scored one goal and lost the game despite their goalie stopping over 95% of the shots.
Oh the times we have!
The game at least featured some interesting lineup decisions. Barrett Hayton played his third game since being recalled, and while he has yet to factor into any scoring, he does add a level of offensive talent the Coyotes desperately need.
Hayton played with Kessel and Garland on what is a pretty sweet third line, but he only played slightly more than Crouse and Richardson, so I guess take the good with the bad.
Unfortunately for the Coyotes, they can't score. Taylor Hall has one goal in his last eight games
You'd think the coach would try him with other players, but he almost never gets on the ice without Christian Dvorak. Nothing against Dvorak, but it's not like they're tearing the league apart, so why not try him with different players?
Besides Dvorak, the Coyotes other two top centres today will be Hayton and Stepan, who Hall hasn't even played a combined 40 minutes with since joining the team.
The coach has zero creativity, but if he did, he'd make a line of Hayton centring Hall and Keller and actually try to score some goals.
Actually, you should probably forget about them anyways.
The Coyotes, who've been treading water for a while now, are fifth in the Wild Card race, having been passed by Winnipeg, Nashville and Minnesota. They have also played more games than all those teams too, so that path to the playoffs is all but closed.
Divisionally, it wasn't that long ago that five teams were pretty much tied for the lead, but the Knights - one of the NHL's best teams - started getting the results they long deserved and now have taken hold of the top spot.
It's suddenly a ten point gap. And, to make matters worse, if the Canucks and Oilers win their games-in-hand, they will be ten and eight points ahead of Arizona.
With 15 games to go, the Coyotes are all but eliminated from playoff contention.
Put it this way: If the Ducks win their games-in-hand, they'd be closer to the Coyotes right now than the Coyotes are to third place in the division.
Should have listened to me several months ago and realized that relying on .940 goaltending is no recipe for success, and that Rick Tocchet is one of - if not the single worst - coaches in the NHL.
At this point the only good thing that can come out of this season is that the Coyotes fire their coach and take their pick of the now 249 free-agent coaches floating around. (Or better yet, hire someone no one has ever heard about with some revolutionary ideas).