The Coyotes sit tied for last in the NHL with four points. They are 2-5 after seven games and this isn't the start that anyone wanted.

There are, however, mitigating factors.

The Coyotes went into their fifth game of the season before scoring their first 5v5 goal of the season, and they were shut-out in three of their first games of the season. This may see, terrible, and it's certainly not good, but the fact remains that it takes a lot of bad luck for an NHL team to score that little. While I suppose anything is possible, the odds that this was a completely fluke helped along by some injuries to key players are extremely high.



Speaking of injuries, Jacob Chychrun, Christian Dvorak and Alex Galchenyuk are all yet to play a game this season.

That is the team's best offensive player, a top-four defenseman and one-third of their top six.

But Galchenyuk is back, and Chychrun is on the way. Dvorak is out for most of the season, and that sucks, but what can you do?

If you look at the Coyotes advanced stats, there is further room to be encouraged:

The Coyotes have been the fourth best possession team in the NHL.

They are getting almost 60% of the shots (3rd in the NHL).

Despite being shutout 5v5 for nearly five games, they're only a minus five goal differential.
(The goals have been incredibly unlucky to come by, but the defense is good).

Lest you think the Coyotes are not an offensive team, they're ninth in total scoring chances despite playing only seven games(18 teams have played more).

The Coyotes, as a team, at 5v5, (where all these stats take place, actually) have a shooting percentage under 3%.

That's 2.95% for those keeping track at home. This is a ridiculous number you couldn't achieve if you sabotaged yourself on purpose.

This is absolutely, one hundred percent, guaranteed, totally certain, irrefutably going up. Russel Oliver will buy your used gold, and the Coyotes shooting percentage will go up. Few things in life can be promised with this much confidence.

Oh hey, Alex Galchenyuk will be making his season debut in Columbus.

So things are looking up.

Five points from the WildCard with one or two games in hand. Like Left Eye says, 'ain't no thang.'

I still expect the Coyotes to make the Playoffs.

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