Follow @james_tanner123 The day we have all been waiting for has finally arrived: Training Camp has opened.
Which is fun for like five minutes until you realize that pre-season games are terrible and that there are too many of them etc. But at least there is finally hockey news and interesting hockey stuff to discuss, so it's not all bad.
Three weeks exactly until October 9th when the Coyotes will open up against the Kings who remain among the NHLs best teams, Playoffs or not last year.
The Coyotes have 68 players at training camp, and Maloney has said that he hopes to cut that to approximately half in approximately ten days.
Maloney was quoted on the Coyotes website as saying that Tippet has been preparing the team to succeed this year "...not only the playoffs, but certainly respectability… We think our mix is good.…
Sorry Don, your mix is bad.
Getting Steve Downie, Nick Grossman, Michalek and Vermette were no exactly good moves. They'd have been far better off getting Franson, Bergenheim and Boyes over the later three, although I do like Downie. Hell, someone just gave Lubinor Visnosky a PTO and I'd rather have him than anyone the Coyotes are going to dress on opening night outside of Stone, Murphy and OEL.
The Defense has three good players and three not-so-good ones. Clearly making the Playoffs can't even be in the realm of possibilities until there's a left-handed option behind OEL.
The Coyotes have one competent first line player, and he's not elite and he is an extreme health risk. If all is right with the world though, Hanzal is the one forward you'd highlight on the this team as a guy who you'd want to keep around.
If Vermette is on the power-play or plays higher than the third line, that's an automatic 50 losses. The Coyotes need to play him like the player he is, not the one he was five years ago. Moving Doan up the lineup is not as bad, but still pretty bad.
Boedker is a huge question mark. Will he ever live up to his potential? Sadly it gets less and less likely with each passing minute.
Domi, Strome, Perlini, Duclair, Dvorak and Samuelsson are six potentially great players and Maloney did say that there are up to five forward spots available. Now I don't expect them to bring in five rookies to start the year, but the more rookies, the happier I am with the team in general. One of my biggest criticisms was that they brought in all these 3rd liner-types and seemingly left nowhere for any rookies to break in.
If the Coyotes are willing to cut established guys in favor or rookies, then I am way, way more excited for this team this year. The more rookies you dress, the less you really care about the standings, and I really, really am not interested in watching another fifty losses unless it's with a rookie heavy lineup that is fun to watch.
Let us be very clear about one thing: No team is making the Playoffs if Nick Grossmann is playing on the second pairing and Antoine Vermette is on the second line. Automatic disqualification.
So, Five Spots?
Hey if we got five spots open, then let's see who's guaranteed to make it:
Hanzal, Boedker, Richardson, Downie, Chipchura, Vermette, Doan and Rieder are my guesses for the 100% locks to make the team.
And as much as I criticize the players the Coyotes brought in in the summer, it's mostly because they have no top line scoring and I'm afraid they'll play Vermette too high that I have a problem with it.
Fact: a bottom six of Downie- Vermette - Doan followed by Chipchura - Richardson - and whoever (could be Vitale, Scott, Gordon, Shinnimin, Cunningham etc.) is also pretty good. I think Richardson and Chipchura could potentially make one of the best fourth lines in hockey. (Assuming Scott is not playing).
So, the Coyotes if they could add some scoring and a second pairing defenseman, they might actually live up to Tippett and Malone's optimism because if you trim the fat, that's a pretty good, even excellent bottom 6 (depending on who the last guy is, but it barely matters).
So, of the five spots available, one of them is the 13th forward and one is the last guy on the bottom six. I'd say that Cunningham and Shinnimin are good picks to fill these rolls.
The entire problem then rests on the top half of the forward lineup, and we can assume that Domi, Duclair and Sameulsson will earn the last three available spots. This is good, I like the future of all three players. The top six is then some combo of this:
Boedker - Hanzal - Domi Duclair - Samuelsson - Rieder
I honestly like this lineup quite a bit, when you consider how little there is in terms of established NHL scoring. So yeah, you have to squint a bit, but you almost can buy into Maloney's optimism. If Hanzal stays healthy, Boedker breaks out finally and the rookies all perform at expected level, this team might not be half bad.
And even if it is, this lineup isn't far away:
Duclair - Strome - Domi Perlinin - Sameulsson - Dvorak
but until then, if they want to have a good year, the Coyotes should probably look into picking up a couple of left-side defensemen .
Overall, and in conclusion, Don Maloney is the man. I get so mad when he makes whacky moves, but then he talks and I end up liking him again. I dunno, I'm pretty excited about this team. Even if slightly skeptical, I still find his relentless optimism infections. Good times. Back and forth I go. But I duuno guys, the thing is, OEL is on the team and Domi and Strome is there lurking in the background........perhaps this is the best time to ever be a Coyotes fan?
Thanks for reading.