As we are all aware, the Coyotes season ended in disappointment when they won only a single game in the month of April and ended up missing the playoffs, finishing 9th in the Western Conference.
So far we have covered some of the major issues facing the club going forward and reviewed some of the things that have occurred over the last seven months. Today I wanted to finish out the year in review by looking at a few more things we haven't covered yet, with a (hopefully) focus on the positives.
Two negative things to start with though: The Coyotes finished the year ranked 26th in penalty killing and 20th in goal scoring. To improve next year, the Coyotes need to figure out how to improve these totals.
The penalty killing will not be that hard to fix. Their best penalty killer, Zbynek Michalek only played in 59 games which contributed to the low ranking of the PK. Also, Mike Smith was not very good to start the year and then he missed the last month. I think it is reasonable to expect that his second half play is closer to what you will get going forward from him.
A healthy Smith/Michalek combo will go along way to improving the penalty kill. The Coyotes are a strong defensive team, well coached and, beyond Michalek, have a great group of defenseman. Without much effort what was a weakness in 2013-14 should be a strength in 2014-15.
As for being 20th in scoring, despite it being a low rank, it could have been much worse. The Coyotes were among the NHL's highest scoring teams for the first two months of the season. This turned out to be an anomaly and it makes the aggregate seem better than it is. No matter how you break it down, the Coyotes are in desperate need of some scoring. Ribeiro disappointed, Doan is in decline and the highest scoring forward on the team was Vrbata who only had 51 points.
Boedker and Hanzal can both improve, and Domi's debut is on the horizon (though he is not going to step into the NHL as a rookie and lead the team in scoring) but outside that, the prospects for internal improvement are somewhat of a joke. You would hate to see Maloney do something desperate and sign Vanek or someone similar to a ridiculous late-career contract, but the options are limited here. Outside of the sparse UFA outlook, the Coyotes only option is a trade. You would absolutely hate to lose a player as dynamic as Keith Yandle (who's play was one of the highlights of this season) but turning him into a star forward remains the most obvious option Maloney has for improving his woeful scoring.
Now, onto the positives
The Power Play: Despite their inability to score goals, Phoenix was fourth in the NHL with a power-play that converted 19.9% of its chances. The answer to what makes their PP so good is obvious: OEL and Yandle. No team in the NHL can ice two defenseman who can do what those two do on a power-play.
Watching Yandle and OEL co-quarterback the PP was perhaps my favorite thing about the NHL this year. They are two of the most talented offensive defenseman in hockey and to see them work together to move the puck around is really something else. If you consider the forwards on the teams who had PP success on the level of the Coyotes (Crosby, Kessel, Ovechkin, Duchene, Iginla) and then consider who the Coyotes are putting out there, you really get a sense of how good Yandle and OEL are. For this reason, I would absolutely refuse to trade Keith Yandle, because if they trade him, it doesn't matter who they get, their power-play will be worse next year.
The Defense The defensive play of the Coyotes under Dave Tippet has long been talked about and respected, but it is now the actual group of defenseman that gives Coyotes fans so much to be excited about.
Yandle, OEL and Michalek, make an outstanding top three, and while Morris is doubtful to return, Gomley, Murphy and Stone make up the best three young defenseman on any one team in the NHL. Add in Schlemko and Summers and you have eight quality NHL defenseman, who, if they develop to even 3/4 of their potential, will make an amazing group, possibly as soon as next year.
The play of Summers down the stretch - after being basically considered a bust - was a pleasant surprise. Gormley didn't see a lot of ice time this year, but he was impressive when he did play and both Stone and Murphy were excellent when called upon. So good in fact was Stone that he was able to move up in the lineup and make Morris a healthy scratch at times.
It remains to be seen who will be moved and who will be kept, but going forward, the best thing about the Coyotes is this group of young defenseman, lead by possibly the best young defenseman in the NHL - Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Brandon McMillan I wanted to end this season recap with one of the most pleasant surprises of the year: the emergence of Brandon McMillan. He only played 22 games and had only 6 points, but McMillan was a force from the time he was called up. Playing a speedy, tough game, McMillan added some grit to the bottom six that was sorely lacking due to the disappointing play of Klinkhammer, Chipchura and Bissonnette. Not to mention the turtle-like speed of NHL slowest skater Jeff Halpurn.
McMillan might not be the greatest player, but I believe he showed enough speed and toughness that he will be a bottom six fixture going forward. I like his game a lot and I think that he could join with Vermette to create 2/3s of a solid checking line with speed next year. Of course that depends on the Coyotes acquiring enough scoring that they can play Vermette in his proper place, but it's a nice thought anyways.
Overall, the Coyotes season was basically just really frustrating. Whether it was their seeming inability to do anything but lose games in overtime (they lost 15 games, tied for second in the league), their inability to score goals, the fact that their goalie got hurt just when they were starting to heat up, that all they added at the trade deadline was Marin Erat, that they lost 8 of their final 9 games, or that they missed the Playoffs by 3 measly points, all that can be said is that it was frustrating as hell to watch and cheer for them.
They gave a solid to great effort every night, and there is a lot to be proud of this season, but overall it was just really, really, really frustrating to be a Coyotes fan in 2013-14.