The Panthers will face off against their strangest opponent of the season tonight when they head to Gila River Arena to clash with the Arizona Coyotes.
I say “strangest… for two reasons:
1. If you haven’t been following along with the news, due to poor money management/an error, the Coyotes were at risk of literally being locked out of their own arena on 12/20/21 for delinquent bill payments.
If delinquent bills and outstanding invoices are not paid by December 20 at 5 pm MST, ASM has been instructed to deny access to the arena to employees.
— Katie Strang (@KatieJStrang) December 9, 2021
Coyotes next home game following that deadline is December 23 against TBL. https://t.co/Yd3kTTKrXA
However, it appears the Yotes have paid up and squared things away:
Per Coyotes, all payments have been made. The Coyotes are current on all bills and tax liabilities.
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) December 9, 2021
Deadspin had reported yesterday that the money owned by Yotes owners was as follows:
- $1.3M in unpaid taxes/fees to the state of Arizona - $250K in taxes to the city of Glendale
Coyotes ownership blamed the issue on “human error… . I’m sure it was but it’s just another odd chapter in the long and weird history of the Coyotes.
See their official statement below:
“We have already launched an investigation to determine how this could have happened and initial indications are that it appears to be the result of an unfortunate human error. Regardless, we deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused. We will make sure that by tomorrow morning, the Arizona Coyotes are current on all of our bills and owe no state or local taxes whatsoever. And we will take immediate steps to ensure that nothing like this can ever possibly happen again.…
2. The other reason the Coyotes are strange to me is their record in comparison to their roster. Arizona is 5-18-2 (last place in the league) so far this season and struggling mightily. But when you look at their roster, it doesn’t seem like they should be as bad as they have been - at least to me.
There’s actually a number of guys I like and wouldn’t mind having in a Panthers sweater. I think Carter Hutton going on IR hurt them for sure, as I think he could have stole a couple wins for them.
But I think the bigger issue might be the front office and coaching. When they hired Rick Tocchet in 2017, I thought his no-non sense/tough guy approach would whip them into shape. In four years, Tocchet had two seasons over .500.
2017-18: 29-49 2018-19: 39-35 2019-20: 30-29 2020-21: 24-26
I know they tried the moneyball approach with their young, hotshot GM for a number of years where they went very stat and analytical-heavy.
Hasn’t worked.
The Yotes are like when you’re trying to find the perfect training routine for the gym. There’s a million exercises out there and you get caught up in trying to cram a ton of stuff in. The only way out is to take Reg Park’s advice and go back to the basics - keep it simple and focus on the major muscle groups. A total reset.
At this point, the Coyotes need to go back to the basics. They have players to be competitive, they need a front office and coach to get on the same page an execute a basic, straightforward game plan. And I’m rooting for them. I like them and those sweet Kachina sweaters.
But until they make the right changes, the Coyotes will be a feasted on by the rest of the league.
And it just so happens the Panthers are are pretty hungry…
Florida is coming off a disappointing OT loss to the Blues Tuesday night, and, as you know, continue their struggles on the road.
Heading into Arizona against a weak/directionless Coyotes team could be a nice confidence booster for the Cats and help them snap their seven-game road losing streak.
History favors Florida in this matchup. The Cats are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games against the Coyotes.
And some added good news on Florida’s side per Jameson Olive yesterday:
#FlaPanthers updates from Bruno:
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) December 9, 2021
- Barkov and Duclair are on track to play tomorrow if they’re cleared after practice
- Bobrovsky will start tomorrow
- Juolevi will make his Panthers debut tomorrow
Gotta stay healthy, Barky…
As with any game…the Cats shouldn’t take this lightly (even against a weaker foe), but my hope is they use this matchup to get ahead (and don’t exchange the lease multiple times!), build some confidence and iron out some of these troubling road kinks.
History Books
On this date in 1992…
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Curious to see Juolevi…Go Panthers!