LOU-EEEE!
My man Louis Domingue got the start last night against the Stars, and he won the game for the otherwise not too great Coyotes, stopping an erotic 37 of 38 shots.
Louis has been the Coyotes best player this year, if you want my opinion. Well, outside of Oliver Ekman-Larsson I guess - but he's so consistently good you tend to take him for granted.
I get that Smith is signed for 62 years and that his contract, which demands that eight dump-trucks per year just drop twenties into his backyard, is, while strangely specific about the manner in which he gets paid, also basically untradable.
A couple of thoughts about the game:
1. Nice to see Grossmann out of the lineup. Now if only they could replace Michalek, Dahlbeck and have a better player than Connauton.
2. Jiri Sekac needs more than a fourth line role. The Coyotes are not deep. You could even bring him up to the second line for all I care, but he has to play higher than a fourth line role - he's virtually always a high possession player. He was a good pick up, use him.
3. Duclair!!
I don''t know what Tippett's problem with big D is. Duclair seems to always be the one to be benched. He's better than Domi - significantly - and yet he's seemingly always relegated to a different line, or outright benched.
Last night he played just 14:40. Being that he is easily the Coyotes best possession driving forward and being that driving possession is their biggest weakness, the deployment of Duclair rarely makes any sense to me.
As you can clearly see, Duclair is the better player. I love Max Domi, but I don't love how Tippett uses - or should I say misuses? - his players.
Anyways, it was a decent game I guess. And, if Minnesota only gets five more points, and Colorado gets no more than eight, and the Coyotes go 8-0 to finish the year, they can still make the Playoffs.
So, like people who don't take the time to think for themselves but continue to draw breath, the Coyote are, at least technically, still alive.
Chart from Ownthepuck.blogspot.ca