The Coyote have lost four in a row, they sit in last place in the NHL and they are off until Thursday.
There is at least one good thing to talk about (no, it's not that they scored two goals on a recent three-game road trip. That is terrible)...it's Jakob Chychrun.
Chychrun has been something bordering on great since his return to the lineup. He hurt himself training during the offseason - I believe it was a knee - and worked hard to make it back aprox. one month before doctors had told him was possible.
Chychrun's absence contributed greatly to the Coyotes terrible start to the season. He was drafted in 2016 and after being considered a top-five pick potentially, he fell in the draft until John Chayka made a move to grab another pick and take him 16th overall.
Looking at the Red Wings current blue line, I'm guessing they wish they had of just drafted him.
Since coming back four games ago (all four losses) Chychrun has scored a goal and added an assists, but what is most impressive is the time on ice he's garnered. Alex Goligoski leads the Coytoes in ice-time per game (5v5) with 18:30 per game on the season (the coach might want to look into this as his team is in last and he's playing freaking Goligoski more than OEL). Since he's come back though, Chychrun has played 19:51 on average, and led the team in 5v5 ice time in two of the four games.
More impressively, is that Chychrun has posted a 49.17 CF rating since he's been back. On the Coyotes, this is fantastic. He's +18% relative to his team.
And he's looked good doing it.
The Coyotes might suck horribly this year. They might once again be picking high in the draft. But a foundation of OEL, Chychrun, Keller and Strome is quite impressive. They've got Stepan, Hjallmarsson, Demers, Goligoski and Raanta as a veteran foundation.
They really aren't that far from being a great team. It just looks like it now.