One of the most frustrating parts about a losing streak is all the dumb things people suggest to you as the reason.
The Coyotes are off to the worst start in recent NHL memory, with an 0-9-1 record.
I'm not sure why people think I care, but they keep messaging to tell me how bad Oliver Ekman-Larsson is playing. To be clear, if they knew what they were talking about, I might actually.
But as the losing streak goes on, the messages get more and more ridiculous.
Good players play on bad teams.
Despite the 0-10 start, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Clayton Keller are off to great starts. But hockey is a team game and there are 17 other players who have to pull their weight too.
The Coyotes new coach is struggling with his line-up. This can be seen in last week's game against the Hawks where he inexplicably had Zac Rinaldo on the ice, down by one goal with the goalie pulled.
Besides the coach, the team has several players with no business currently in the NHL on it: Brandon Perlini, Lawson Crouse (recently demoted), Tobias Reider, Mario Kempe, Brad Richardson, Nick Cousins and Zac Rinaldo.
So that is part of the reason for the trouble.
The other part is injuries and bad luck.
Jacob Chychrun hasn't played a game yet this year. Once he does, the Coyotes really do have one of the best defenses in the NHL. Even without him, their blue line isn't really the problem.
The main problem is injuries and bad luck.
Besides Chychrun, Anti Raanta has only played two games. That is a huge deal when you consider that both their back-up goalies have proven to be terrible.
Finally, the luck can't be helped. As bad as 0-9-1 is, the Coyotes could easily have four or five wins. They've played good games. Obviously, the kind of people who want to go online and bitch about it don't really care about things like "reality" and "variance" but that doesn't stop it from being a real factor.
Same goes with OEL. Everyone keeps acting like it's somehow his fault the team is losing, but a look into the stats shows the same old all-star.
Leads the team in ice time.
Has a 53% possession rating on an 0-10 team.
And 53% of all scoring chances while he's on the ice.
If OEL could play the whole game, the Coyotes would be one of the best teams in the NHL. He's that good. Even so far this year.
If there is a reason he looks bad it's because the Coyotes have only scored on 6% of the shots while he's on the ice.
Also, his goalies have only saved 84% of the shots while he has been on the ice.
To put 84% in perspective, if you saved 91% of shots instead of 84% you would still be looking at a demotion to the AHL. It doesn't matter how good you play, if your goalie allows 16% of all shots to go into the net, you will appear like you're not playing well.
But all the stats suggest that he's playing great.
While controlling 53% of the play on a last place team.
So if you come across anyone critiquing his game, know this: Those people havne't watched a Coyotes game and they are just blaming the best player because it's the easy thing to do.
The team has played fine. Obviously no one is happy with the record, but they're in almost every game and if they got some solid goaltending, then things like a bad bottom half of the roster and a coach and team learning their way together wouldn't matter so much.
And once again, you've been blogged!