For Part 2 of my Coyotes Season in Review, I thought I would do a little rapid fire analysis/commentary.
The Arizona Coyotes
The Coyotes are going to be called the Arizona Coyotes next year.
This really bugs me. I realize the team is playing in Glendale, and not Phoenix, and that Glendale is too small to be referred as the teams home, but this kind of semantics-based garbage really gets to me.
They have been the Phoenix Coyotes for almost 20 years, and now I am just supposed to start calling them by a different name? It's a pain in the ass, it's annoying, and I fail to see the utility of such a move.
I mean, I get why they did it, but it seems delusional to think people who live outside of Phoenix and Glendale are suddenly going to be identifying with the team just because they are now called Arizona. Are the Coyotes just so desperate for higher attendance that they are know courting the kind of "fan" who this move would appeal to? It seems like the marketing idea of someone far removed from the real world.
Anyways, I know it's of minor importance, but the move really bugs me. I live in Toronto, and about ten years ago they started calling the home of the Blue Jays the "Rogers Centre" as opposed to the Skydome. No one I know has ever acquiesced to this corporate lunacy and actually called it that. I feel the same thing will probably just happen with this move.
Plus, "Phoenix" sounds like a cool bird, not to mention all the "Rises from the Ashes" puns you can use when they make an improbable comeback. "Arizona" just sounds like a place senior citizens go to turn themselves into human raisins.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Outside of goalie Mike Smith, who because of his position and what happened when he got injured, almost has to be considered the Coyotes most important player - the best player on Phoenix is indisputably Oliver Ekman-Larsson. OEL set a new career high this year with 15 goals and 44 points, but his value is much higher than just his offense.
Ekman-Larsson is going to get some Norris votes this year, and if he played on a better team, he might have won it. He is that good. What makes him so good is the way in which he is so good defensively without being all that physical. Not that he can't play physical, because he can, but I know of no NHL player since Nichlas Lidstrom who could so effectively play the angles and use his stick to prevent players from beating him or making a play.
To appreciate the things OEL can do, you have to watch more than just the highlights, and you have to do more than just check the point totals. He plays one of the most subltle, interesting games in the NHL. He is always in position, he seems instinctively to know when pinching is a good idea, and he makes these plays - often at the top of the D zone, or in the neutral zone - where he angles himself slightly to change the play. They don't make the highlights, but he seems to do one or two of them every game.
Also, for the amount of minutes the guy plays - the most on the team - he makes so few obvious errors that it is almost incredible. OEL is the calmest, most intelligent defenseman in the NHL and he is very soon going to be the best. He is every inch the equivalent of having a Stamkos, Kane or Tavares on the roster, and to think he went 6th overall and not 2nd behind Tavares seems crazy now. I know Hedman had a breakout year, and that Matt Duchene is an amazing talent, but that is how good OEL is.
Mark these words: Because of Oliver Ekman-Larson, the Coyotes will make the playoffs every year from now until the end of his career, a career that will end with multiple Norris Trophies and which will see him be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Mike Ribeiro
The Coyotes signed Ribeiro to be the number one centre after he was a point-per-game player last year, and was basically that (or something really close) for the last six years. Last summer Martin Hanzal and Ribeiro looked to be a pretty great top two centres and with Vermette anchoring the third line, the Coyotes looked really good at that position.
Except Mike Ribeiro sucks. Yes, to say his season was disappointing would be a massive understatement. 47 points in 82 games while looking disinterested most of the time was not what we were hoping for last summer. At times a healthy scratch and at others a fourth liner, Ribeiro was absolute garbage. On the powerplay he was decent, I will admit this, but otherwise, he had a complete failure of a season.
As for Hanzal, he continued to tantalize with his talent, but his tendency to get injured was very costly. Hanzal missed almost 20 games and it was the fourth year in a row that he missed significant time with injury. His skill set is dynamite and he has the size of a minotaur, so I can't recommend giving up on him, but he frustrates the hell out of me.
Antoine Vermette
I would be remiss if I didn't take a little time here to mention Antoine Vermette and the amazing year he had. This is a guy who is considered an elite third line centre. By that I mean that he is one of the league's premier face-off and defensive forwards. He can be played in every situation and occasionally kick in a bit of offense, but he lacks the offensive abilities to play higher in the lineup. Or so it was thought. (And proven?)
Due to the Coyotes employing the useless Ribeiro and the fragile Hanzal, Vermette was called on to be the de-facto #1 centre. Yes, he only put up 45 points, it is true, but he was effective in all sorts of ways. First of all, he kills penalties like a machine, second, he had 24 goals. Third, he takes the important draws, plays in all situations and was - and I don't think anyone would disagree - easily the best forward on the Coyotes this year.
If you want to look for reasons why the Coyotes missed the playoffs, this would be a decent place to start. As much as I like Vermette, you just can't play him this high in the lineup and expect to win. In fact, I thought they should have turned the 32 year old playing well above his expectations into an asset at the trade deadline, but against my advice, and 100% because of politics only, Don Maloney chose to add and not subtract at the deadline. (More on this in Part 3)
Not that he added much (Erat!) but I think you are making a mistake when you can turn a guy like Vermette, at his age, into a great asset (I don't think its impossible they could have got an additional first rounder for him) and you don't do it.
Part three of my Tolstoyesque Season Review tomorrow. Come Tweet me. @james_tanner123