Follow @james_tanner123 It's a crazy day today up in Canada. We will elect a new and less evil Prime Minister, the Blue Jays will destroy the Royals and I am sick as expletive deleted.
Well, I just have a minor cold, so complaining is probably to actual sick people what actual overweight people think when they hear that skinny girl who always says she's fat just so you'll tell her she's pretty. Either way, I feel bad enough to whine about it and the only thing that's going to make me feel better - other than a Lil Wayne-esque consumption of cough syrup - is a new Prime Minister.
If you don't live in Canada, you might not know this, but Dick Cheney's brother has been running the country for ten years (because ridiculously, we don't have term limits) and today he gets replaced.
Anyways, here's some interesting hockey related stuff to talk about:
The Blue Jays are going to destroy the Royals tonight. Also:
Before they won last night, the Kings were shooting less than 2% at 5v5. It's funny, all the people who use the fact that they missed the Playoffs last year as proof that their bad start this year is for real must have failed in logic class, because just because two things "seem" to correlate doesn't mean that they do.
Oh wait, there isn't a logic class because the edzukation syztm iz trrible. (Such an awful joke Tanner, you're better than that.)
But the Kings were one of the most unlikely and flukiest teams to ever miss the Playoffs. I've written about it in the past and evidence is staggering: only brutal luck kept them out.
I mean, look at their game against Arizona to start the year: they put 75 shots on the net and will win that game nine times out ten. The only times they'll lose? When they face a goalie playing out of his mind, which they did.
13.6% On-Ice SH% at 5v5 and .964 SV% at 5v5 for the Coyotes is really really really unlikely to last. They are 1st in both categories.
— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) October 18, 2015LA ranks 4th in the NHL in Score Adjusted CF% at 5v5 at 54.7%.... Arizona ranks 20th at 49.3%
— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) October 18, 2015The hot start is nice, and the platitudes and hyperbole surrounding Nick Gorssmann are hilarious, but let's be real: No team who gives Grossmann minutes per night is going anywhere.
Though, I do like the fact that Tippett's second most used dman so far this year is Connor Murphy (the first most used is pretty obvious). Connor Murphy is better than Stone (who is also good) and he's better than Grossmann and the Coyotes should partner OEL and Murphy together so that they can have at least one pairing that dominates at 5v5, which I believe they will. In the last three seasons, when on the ice together, OEL/Murphy are a 53% CF and both are worse while apart. In fact, that's a pretty staggering number when you consider that the Coyotes have spent more time in the basement during that time than your average blogger (hey-oh!) and were one of the worst possession teams in hockey.
I also - obviously - like Domi and Duclair, but let's try to be realistic for a second: Max Domi is shooting 18% and Anthony Duclair is shooting 50% and has a PDO of 125 (!). They are fast and fun to watch, but they aren't going to keep doing this all year. The fact is, the Coyotes play Antoine Vermette on the second line and Hanzal has 7 points in 5 games. They are much more like the team that scored only one 5v5 goal in six preseason games than the one that currently has a 3-2 record and has outscored the opposition 13-4 at even-strength.
Currently the Coyotes are rocking a save % of almost 97% at 5v5.
Their two worst games so far are games that they won.
They have a 46% Corsi and a PDO of 110 and have won the possession game in just two of their five games.
I want the Coyotes to win, I really do. But all this talk of strong play to start the season is unfair to the team, players and fans because it will set up unrealistic expectations and (because I have no faith in the GM) possibly alter his decision making process for the worse. ("Hey maybe Grossman IS good!" (he's not)).
Based on the play of the team so far, we are still talking about the most likely to be last place team and a team that will have trouble scoring most of the time.
Vitale Update:
Joe Vitale took a beating in a fight the other night against a guy he should not be fighting. Everyone knows that the team has better options, so to keep his spot in the lineup (he was playing his first game after four as a healthy scratch) and show that he's a true gamer (which he is) he fought a dude he had not business fighting and is going to be out for a while. I heard a rumour that his orbital bone is broken and he'll months.
A sad outcome and fighting in hockey (while entertaining) just gets harder and harder to defend.
Thanks for reading.