Follow @james_tanner123 The Playoffs are on and the coaching carousel is in full swing, so the Coyotes haven't exactly been making headlines, but there is some minor stuff going on worth talking about.
Let's have at it, but first, did somebody say Carousel?
It's nice and all because Dave Tippett is a great coach, but I am betting he doesn't stick around too much longer now that coaches get PAID. One of the more bizarre things about the Mike Babcock is people criticizing him for "taking the money." Coaches in the NHL are terribly underpaid compared to their players and to other sports.
Let us also keep in mind that coaches are just regular guys who have that rare chance to make money where as their bosses are giant corporations so rich they own a half-billion dollar loss-leader/tax shelter otherwise known as an NHL team.
Tippett still has three year left on his deal, so he's not going anywhere, but you have to figure that outside of Quennville, Vingneult, Babcock and Julien, he'd be in the next tier of guys who'd get huge money from a team in need. I don't know what he currently gets paid, but I do know one thing: It isn't enough.
Hey Mike Smith is Pretty Good, no?
Asked how the Worlds differed from his NHL season, a diplomatic Smith said "We scored six goals per game." Kind of a dumb question when you think about it since the Canadian team was a veritable All-Star team and he plays on an team with OEL and a bunch of kids.
Smith though, by all accounts, was pretty solid during the tournament. Everyone is acting like this is a surprise, but as I've pointed out at least ten times, Smith actually put up decent numbers after Dubnyk was shipped off to obscurity - just the team in front of him was, you know, god-awful.
Portland Pirates
The Coyotes have fired the entire coaching staff of their AHL affiliate. The team will have a whole new staff when they relocate to Springfield to become the Falcons.
To be honest I am not sure how this really works. The Falcons were the AHL team of the Blue Jackets, so I guess the entire roster belongs to CBJ and they go somewhere else while the entire Pirates roster moves to the Falcons?
That is Springfield MA, if you're wondering.
Coyotes Future
It's in Arizona and I really have no interest in talking about relocation, or the market, or the out-clause or whatever. It's so boring and old and honestly, as far as I can tell, the recent news comes entirely from the fact that several members of the city council are morons and a story filled with anonymous sources and dubious information.
If you're interested, this guys just destroys it:
I am not interested in talking about this until there's real news. But I am interested in talking about David Letterman. I am a huge fan of Dave because he's caustic and absurd and original and most of all, funny as hell. I don't really care for the late-night format because celebrity guests are pretty much the worst, but I like the jokes and I like the bands.
Compared to the G-rated Fallon and his obsession with lip-synching......well there is no comparison. I think Fallon is funny and stuff, but he lacks the edge that usually makes funny people funny. Anways, it's weird there's no more Letterman because he was such a reliable institution, but I will say it's disappointing that one of the best places to see live music on T.V went out with the frigging Foo Fighters.
Supposedly they are Dave's favorite band, and it's his show, but I just can't resist the opportunity to put down the world's most generic mid-tempo rock band.
Hey, uh those your drums?