Interesting week for the Coyotes. A conspiracy, a trade, some waiver moves and some regression.
Easy to tackle:
The Conspiracy: This is stupid. Who cares about John Scott? Who, on a minor league salary will make more money than most people.
I don't think teams are going to make trades to get a guy out of an allstar game.
Plus, think about: With a possible exception here and there, conspiracies are for dumb people. You're not dumb, so ignore them.
The Trade: Someone else's garbage always looks better. Elliott was OK, Tinordi is probably OK. Neither are likely going to any unironic allstar games any time soon.
All in all, would rather have stuck it out with Gormley.
Waivers: They claimed Kevin Connauton. When half your D is garbage, any move is a good move.
They waived Elliott and Scott. No takers for free, but did get a live body instead. Deal!
They waived Downie. You could tell signing him was stupid from the get go. No one wants him and he's in the minors. Again, I could feel bad, but he has a ton of money and I don't.
Regression: After scoring enough to have a great record - they'd be in a Wildcard, even if the Pacific is brutal - despite being outplayed in most of their games, the Coyotes got a cold dose of reality this week when they played two games, put up nearly 100 shot-attempts and scored one ES goal.
It happens.
Not that I'll complain if they make the Playoffs. I would love that.
I really do think people get confused with an honest attempt to evaluate the team in reality, and think you just hate them and want them to lose. That isn't the case.
Tonight they face the Buffalos.
The Coyotes fans will get to see the player they rightly deserved, live and in person for the first time ever: Jack Eichel.
I don't even care that we got screwed by the NHL draft lottery. I am just happy no one says "McEichel" anymore. I really wish people made better aesthetic choices in their catch phrases.
Anyways, tonight should be a good game with two young teams battling it out to see who has the best Corsi.
Good times are likely to be had by all.
Thanks for reading.