The Arizona Coyotes are set to have a great season.
Of course, it's all relient on internal improvement, so that is a tricky thing to project. Just based off last year's numbers, people - such as the Athletic season preview - are being pretty optimistic about them.
Having an elite goalie makes almost any team in the NHL playoff worthy. The thing is, you don't know what you're going to get from any goalie in any given season. If you did, Carey Price, the NHL's most talented goalie, would be playing for the Cup every year.
So hopefully Raanta is good (and healthy) and the Coyotes are a competitor.
But for the Coyotes to live up to the optimism I have for them, they will have to answer the biggest question:Can they get significant internal improvement?
Galchenyuk and Hinostroza are very nice adds, but the team still lacks an elite scoring presence.
Derek Stepan is a nice player who scores 55 points like clockwork. But he's not a #1 center. The team needs one. Galchenyuk is probably more Stepan than Crosby, and Dvorak is a nice piece but he'll never score 90 points.
In order for the Coyotes to be good, one of those guys has to lose their job as a centre to Dylan Strome. Strome needs to justify his draft position and cement a job as an NHL regular or the Coyotes to be any good this year.
They also need Keller to go from 65 to 80 points. They're going to need Perlini to bounce back, and they are going to have to see Jacob Chychrun take a step forward after somewhat of a lost season last year.
The Coyotes have tons of potential, but if they want to not only climb out of the basement, but also make the playoffs, they'll need many of their players to take a step forward.
In Phoenix, internal improvement is the name of the game.