The Arizona Coyotes have hired Xavier Gutierrez to be the team's new President and Ceo.
Gutierrez becomes the NHL's first non-white President and CEO.
Obviously any promotion like this is excellent, but from a hockey perspective, I have no idea what this means to the team.
John Chayka has received a vote of confidence, and presumably will still be making all hockey decisions, since Gutierrez's background is in business and not hockey.
Official: Xavier A. Gutierrez has been named the new President, CEO and Alternate Governor, becoming the first Latino team President & CEO in @NHL history. https://t.co/UqSdGoQOEM
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) June 8, 2020
In other news, we now resume our Coyotes top 50 Player Countdown.
Coyotes Top 50
When last we met, I had named Jacob Chychrun as the Coyotes 19th best player of all-time.
Today, ranked 18th, is defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Hjalmarsson has played 157 games in a Coyotes uniform over the last three seasons. He ranks 22nd in all-time games played by a Coyotes blue-liner.
Hjalmarsson has a career high of 26 points, and has never topped ten as a Coyotes player, but its his defense that gets him on this list.
It is universally agreed upon by all of the analysts that use advanced stats to measure and evaluate hockey players that I talk to, read, or listen to that Hjalmarsson is one of, probably the very best, defensive players in the NHL.
One thing that we've learned about NHL defensemen in the last ten years is that stay-at-home guys tend to be useless because they get crushed in their own end, and no matter how good at actual defense they are, nothing beats not having to defend.
This is how defenders who look bad visually get such good results (guys like Gardiner, Yandle, Barrie, DeAngelo etc.) and why defenders who look like they are good at defense (Myers, Polak etc) are actually probably not even NHL players.
But Hjalmarsson is the exception. He provides almost no offense (though he is an underrated puck handler and passer) but doesn't end up hemmed in his own zone constantly.
The funny thing about a player like Hjalmarsson is that he doesn't hit that much, and he doesn't score, so he's often barely noticeable., Still, few players get better results, and among those that don't regularly hit the score sheet, I'm not sure anyone does.
50: Limitless 49: Oh Brother Where Art Though? 48: Role Models 47: the Rock 46: Mission Impossible Franchise 45: Nicholas Cage Man Tetrology 44:Heat 43: The Art of Self Defense 42:Walk Hard 41: The Winter Soldier 40:Taken 39: The 6th Day 38: Groundhog Day 37. The Batman Trilogy - Christopher Nolan 36: Jackie Brown 35: Gremlins 34: Who Framed Roger Rabbit 33: Speed 32: Adventure Land 31: Eyes Wide Shut 30: Semi Pro 29. Endgame/Ragnorak Trilogy 28. Baby Driver 27: Next 26: Keanu 25:Annie Hall 24: Catch Me If You Can 23: Serpico 22: Pop Star: Never Stop Stopping 21: Passenger 57 20: The John Hughes Trilogy 19: MacGruber
When last we left off, we had named the cult classic MacGruber as the 19th best movie ever, and the best comedy movie of all-time.
Today, it's #18 Source Code
Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal and is from 2011.
It is about a guy who uses some kind of crazy military virtual reality experiment to constantly recreate a bomb scene and look for suspects.
Based on real technology and a true story, this excellent "sci fi" documentary stands as one of the greatest movies ever because it is fun to watch and endlessly re-watchable.
Move movies are so up their own ass about making some kind of half-understandable point, or they just blindly appeal to the masses as they manipulate your stupid emotions.
That's why I like action movies. Blow stuff up and get rewarded by saving the day. Hopefully in a fight against robots, and enough full frontal to keep everyone interested.