Follow @james_tanner123 The Coyotes are in the midst of a rebuild, and while they boast one of the best and most universally acknowledged farm systems in the league, they still need to fill out their roster for the upcoming season.
They have a history of ownership problems, to say the least.
They recently cut one of their "biggest names,' seem intent on bringing back most of last year's league worst defense, and have the league's youngest ever General Manager.
And it's the middle of the summer.
What better time for a state of the franchise address?
After multiple owners (including the league), years of trying to make hockey work in the desert, and then years of trying to make it work in a suburb almost an hour away from the main metropolitan area, the Coyotes may be on the verge of thriving.
The team is on an upswing with some of the potentially best players in (Phoenix not Winnipeg) franchise history: Dylan Strome, Anthony Duclair, Clayton keller, Max Domi and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The ownership group is made up of Ice Arizona (a group lead by Team President Anthony Leblanc) and majority shareholder Andrew Barroway. There were reports last year that Barroway was on his way out, but a May 2016 article in Forbes lists him as owning 54% of the team.
As the face of the franchise, Leblanc has, in my opinion, done a good job. He's embarked on a rebuild, got rid of Maloney and taken the team in a full-fledged analytics direction, three things I recommended that he do.
Since he listens to me, I'd at least like a free OEL jersey, but that is besides point. I think he's done a tremendous job given the circumstances.
I fully embrace giving Chayka a chance and I love the direction the team is going in.
There have also said that they'll be moving away from Glendale and into Phoenix or Scottsdale in the near future.
For moving out of Glendale, being willing to spend money, taking the chance on a new direction and rebuild, and making the team as stable as it has ever been, I give the new Coyotes ownership the following rating:
A+
I am 100% behind the team's idea to take the recent influx of analytics into hockey decision making and run with it. John Chayka had a statistics company and even played at a high level of hockey, making him the perfect candidate to break down the league's 'old boys club' without going too far astray.
People wrongly and obviously criticized the move, and in most cases, the protectionism of the old guard (and an unwillingness to credit anyone positively for taking chances) was apparent in each critique or half-hearted instance of faint praise.
Chayka boldly selected skilled centre Clayton keller, then traded up to get Jacob Chychrun, traded for Deangleo, gave strange but surprisingly risk-free deals to Connor Murphy and Michael Stone, as well as smartly buying out Antoine Vermette.
What does he see in Murphy that he thinks bodes well for future improvement? What does he see in Luke Schenn (who he shrewdly also gave a second, expansion draft baiting, year to)??
We will see, but I think it's impressive that in the short time he's had the job he's done enough good to already have built up a little 'benefit of the doubt' currency.
It's been said that only Arizona, Tampa and Florida are truly making the most of their analytic departments and I think the league's unwillingness to adapt at anything less than a turtle's pace will bode extremely well for Chayka and the Coyotes in coming season.
Rating: B (Get OEL a partner and we'll talk).
The Coyotes' farm system is overflowing with talent at the forward positions: Domi and Duclair are already making an NHL impact, Clayton keller projects to be a star player, Dylan Strome projects as the team's #1 Centre for the next decade, then there is Christian Dvorak, Christian Fischer, Brandon Perlini, Nick Merkley, Ryan MacInnis.
On defense, things get thin after Chychrun and Deangelo, but the Coyotes have decent prospects in Kyle Wood and Dysin Mayo.
Obviously an upgrade on the back-end is in order. Despite that, any team in which Christian Dvorak is the fifth best young player is doing something right.
Overall: A+
Dave Tippett is one of the most respected coaches and tacticians in the NHL. That being said, how much should we care about veneration in a league which repeatedly gives jobs to Randy Carlyle and Peter Chiarelli?
I advocated last year for starting over with a new coach, owing to Tippett's unwillingness to play young players and his favorable predisposition towards guys like Smith, Vermette, Etc.
However, it came out recently that it was Maloney resisting analytics, that it was Maloney who wouldn't let Strome on the team (reportedly, Tippett considered him to have made the team last year) and that it was Maloney who was unwavering loyal to the core group of veterans.
It seems, to the best of the information I have today, that I was wrong about Tippett in the past.
A lot of things that came out after Maloney was fired seemed to paint Tippett as a much more progressive, player friendly, youth oriented kind of coach. Who knows what's even true, but I always thought that Maloney and Tippett were joined together, and that if Malney went, so would Tippett.
Since it turns out that they were in a battle, and that Maloney lost, and that the result of that was hiring Chayka and becoming one of the supposed most analytics using teams in hockey, how could I not like this move?
Tippett has a past history of success and a recent history of trying to be progressive and incorporate new ideas into his old ones. What more could you ask for, especially when he's also one of the most tactically and personally respected coaches in the league?
Rating: A+
Current Roster:
It is impossible to rate the current roster in the normal way, which would be to gauge what I think their chances are of attaining the success they should be achieving at this point of the compete-rebuild-compete cycle.
It is impossible to do this because they don't currently have a full roster.
They will likely have quite a few first and second year players on their team this year.
They have a 34 year old goalie who hasn't been bad when healthy, and an untested 24 year old goalie who did not out play the incumbent when given a chance.
They don't have a partner for OEL.
Their #1 centre is the league's most injury prone player.
While they've given themselves 11 or 12 options on the blue line, it does remain true that six of the seven players from last year are still with the organization (OEL, Murphy, Stone, Michalek, Dahlbeck, Connauton).
All that considered, I don't think this year is about the standings as much as it's about growth and development. But guess what? I don't care.
If this team finishes last in the NHL, which they won't, I don't care.
Because I've watched garbage teams filled with filler sleep walk through the season with no chance at the Playoffs and this isn't that.
As a Coyotes fan, I get to watch OEL, Strome, Domi, Duclair and Dvorak. Plus I get to wait for Keller and Chychrun.
So, are the playoffs possible? Sure, but not likely.
Is the team going to be among the most fun to watch in the NHL? Guaranteed.
Are they on the right track: For Sure.
Rating: A+ cause it'll be fun and for this year, standings don't matter.
The State of this Franchise is getting my best ever rating: Six Vin Diesels.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Vin-Deez Rating System (patent pending), that works out to either five stars or two thumbs, whatever you prefer.
I would never have thought I'd see the franchise were it is today considering how they've struggled to survive all these years, and that only a year ago they were in the middle of another messy ownership thing, were being sued by the town they play in, and employed both Don Maloney and Nick Grossmann.
To be clear here is where they are:
1. Stable Ownership. 2. On the way to a new building in a better city (but still in the Phoenix area). 3. Possessing of an - at worst - top 3 farm system. 4. Stacked with potential superstars under the age of OEL or less. 5. On the cutting edge of the biggest revolution to hit hockey, maybe ever. 6. Great coach and GM. 7. Covered by me.
It's a miracle. (As far as "miracles" can be said to occur in the relatively meaningless realm of professional sports.)
Current State of the Coyotes: Currently among the best positioned teams in the NHL.
Thanks for reading.