Follow @james_tanner123 Man, when I look back to the beginning of the season and the hope that September offered, followed by my impatience to get the regular season underway, it feels insane that I ever thought way.
And thinking the Coyotes could challenge for a playoff spot?
Hey, it seemed logical at the time!!
But, as we shamefully hang our heads and wait for what seems like the world's longest ever exhibition schedule to be over, it's hard to believe we were looking forward to this debacle.
The Coyotes play the Devils tonight, the first of 14 games left on the schedule and already I have betrayed my team as I have been not-so-secretly cheering for the LA Kings - arch rivals (though they might not know it) of the Arizona Coyotes.
There is only so much you can take, and with the Devils being about the least exciting team in the NHL to want to watch - median roster age:56 - and the Coyotes running out an all-star lineup featuring Joe Vitale, Marc Arcobello and B.J Crombeen in starring roles, I must admit it will be a challenge to flip back to the Coyotes/Devils game once I turn on the LA game during the first intermission.
Actually, it won't be much of a challenge, since I won't even try. Nashville / LA is going to be a great game and no offense to the Coyotes, but a game vs the Devils in March can't exactly match that.
1. The Coyotes game against the Hawks on Thursday was the team's third sellout of the season. I have no idea how they sold out a game in which Joe Vitale played 33 minutes, but they did.
2. Losses for the season, projected at $20 million dollars, are actually going to come in at just $16 million.
Hey, anytime you only $ 16 mill is a good day right?
Now, how I reconcile that news with my own financial situation, where I cannot afford to put my kids into hockey or give them piano lessons, is pretty difficult. I mean - I ain't living in poverty or anything - but due to crippling student loans, I will probably never own a house or an exotic bird and so I find talk about the "good news" of only losing $16 million pretty bizarre.
I mean, if I lost $16 bucks it would be damn near catastrophic, so um, I can't really relate.
However, the good news is that soon the team will draft it's own Mario Lemieux and together - through the equally important powers of winning and blogging, we will save the Coyotes.
Or if you're the cynical type, putting a positive spin on losing $16 million (which I don't think includes one-time costs, like buying a player having a season not that far removed from Crosby's) is the biggest load of crap you've ever heard and assurances about that infamous out-clause ring hollow from guys who re-sold their team less than a year into their deal......and you know that that $50 million limit on losses will almost certainly be reached ( you know, cause we're pumped about a THIRD sellout) and it makes you a nervous. Especially since Coyote's Champion Gary Bettman must be getting somewhere close to retirement......and is his replacement gonna really wanna keep doing this?
I don't wanna bring you down, but these are the kinds of things that go through your head when you're covering the Coyotes and they haven't played a meaningful game since the Hurricanes put their record to 3-7 on the first day of November, and you live in Ontario and haven't seen the sun for six months, and you have to watch them play freaking New Jersey and it's been 18 games since they won a game in regulation time.
That is right, if not for two could-have-gone-either-way-because-shoot-outs-are-pure-luck wins, the Coyotes would be on an 18 game losing streak. Or if the NHL still - as they should - allowed games to finish in ties, we would be talking about a losing streak that stretched back to February first.
The Kansas City scouts once went on a 27 game winless streak, back in the 1974-75 season.
Hey, with 14 games left, it's doable.
Thanks for reading.