The Coyotes will look to get back in the win column tonight against the Flames.
The Coyotes have lost two in a row, and the Flames are coming off a loss to the Leafs on Monday. Unfortunately for the Coyotes, the Flames happen to be one of the best teams in the NHL and they (the Coyotes) will be without their starting goalie once again.
The Coyotes - who are still in last place - have played 27 games and Raanta has played in only 13. That's over 50% of their games without their starting goalie.
Arizona will also be without Nick Hjalmarsson again tonight, as he too is injured again. Hjalmarsson has managed to get into just 17 games. No wonder the Coyotes record is so bad.
To replace Hjalmarsson in the lineup, the Coyotes have recalled Andrew Campbell from the Roadrunners. He's 29 and has played in 42 career games, so while I'm always happy to see someone make it back to the show, I don't think he's gonna be too much help.
On the bright side, the Coyotes do have points in five of their last seven games, despite Scottie Wedgewood staring the last three in a row.
When the Coyotes lost to the Oilers on Monday, the game marked the return to the NHL of Dylan Strome. Expectations where high since Tocchet was set to play him with Clayton Keller.
This did happen - but just not very much. Strome saw just 11 minutes of ice time, ten of which were with Keller. But Keller got 16 overall. Only the inexplicably rostered Zac Rinaldo and Nick Cousins played less.
I don't really know why coaches do this. You take a player used to playing 20 minutes per game and being the centre piece of his team's offense and you play him for 11 minutes. It's nice that he at least got to play with Keller, but Richardson is a terrible idea, and playing him for half of what he's used to certainly isn't going to instill him with confidence.
If you're not going to play Strome and Keller 18 minutes, minimum, then you shouldn't even bother keeping them in the NHL. There is just simply no excuse for losing a game in overtime when you played Tobias Rieder (45% on Monday) more than Clayton Keller (let alone almost eight minutes more than Strome).
I want to like Tocchet, but his lineup decisions are often as bad as Dave Tippetts. This team has a ton of kids in the lineup and Tocchet would be smart to take Mike Babcock's lead and let his rookies lead the team.
There is simply no excuse for playing Strome so little.