Good morning.
In a shocking turn of events, Martin Hanzal has been placed on injured reserve.
The oft injured forward is out with a "body" injury. Why even divide the body into halves anymore?To be honest, it should actually be news when the guy plays. He's missed 13 games so far and is bound to miss many more.
This latest injury occurred during the All-Star break when Hanzal was at a BBQ at Joffrey Lupul's house. Apparently, Lupul fell down for no reason and then Hanzal stumbled over Lupul's withered carcass and landed awkwardly.
Both players are considered day-to-day for the rest of their careers.
It sucks too because Hanzal is an extremely underrated player. My hope is that his injury scares teams off from trading for him and that he can visit with a naturopathic "doctor" over the summer and get some haunted goat-juice to cure what ails him.
In Other News
The Coyotes play back-to-back tonight and tomorrow, beginning tonight in Chicago.
Tippett anticipates Smith will play both games in back-to-back Monday and Tuesday.
— Sarah McLellan (@azc_mclellan) February 8, 2015As we can see here, Dave Tippitt is clearly the wrong coach for a rebuilding team.
I like Dave Tippett as much as anyone. I think he's a great coach. But he's too damn competitive to coach a last place team and it's hurting the future of the team in my opinion.
There are a lot of examples, and starting Smith in back-to-back games when he has a young goalie he could throw a bone to is just one example, but it suggests that he considers Chicago and St.Louis too good of teams for the rookie back-up to handle.
Yet, if he can't handle it, why's he in the NHL? What's to lose by giving him a shot? It can only help in the future, right?
Other things:
Playing Vermette - almost sure to be traded - more minutes than Hanzal or even Gagner. It's not even a sure thing that Vermette is better than Hanzal (I actually don't think he is) but he's the vet so Tippitt plays him. At least give Hanzal more PP time.......
Doan on the top line, taking tons of minutes? I get the respect thing, but this hurts the team's future.
I don't mind that he keeps playing Erat, because Erat - even when he doesn't score - is effective. But I do mind that all year he's thrown an ineffective Erat out on the PP despite having younger, hungrier players (like Lessio or Reider) who deserve it more.
And hey, since we're out of it, why not get experimental and try what nearly everyone who thinks the game progressively wants to see: Yandle and OEL paired long-term at even strength?
Look - in and of themselves these aren't terrible moves but collectively they paint a picture of a coach who just isn't interested in rebuilding - and who can blame him? - but the fact is, what's in Tippett's nature and what's in the team's best long-term interest are not the same thing.
Should they fire him? I don't know. He's sort of the heart of the franchise. He has given a team without a single name brand player an identity (over his term, not really this year) and is without a doubt one of the most important people in franchise history.
I don't want him to be fired, but I also don't think he's the right coach for this team.
Maybe they can trade him?
Thanks for reading.