Coyotes Getting Tough on the NHL
Twelve games into the 2009-10 NHL season, the Phoenix Coyotes are 8-4 and looking like they may be able to make a run at the playoffs if they can keep up the solid play they have shown so far. Right now they have the fourth highest points in the Western Conference. They also hold victories over the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, and defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. This is all the more amazing considering all of the term oil the franchise has endured over the last few months.
Not only are things looking good on the ice so far, things are also starting to look up for the front office as well. It was announced this week that owner Jerry Moyes has reached an agreement with the NHL to sell the team. The deal would allow the NHL to take over ownership of the team while turning around to sell to a third party willing to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix beyond this season. The league hopes to finalize the deal on Monday. The only things that could hold up the deal are the bankruptcy court and former head coach, and part owner, Wayne Gretzky, both of whom still need to give their approval of the deal before it can move forward.
On the ice, the Coyotes are playing a more aggressive style of hockey than in recent years. Their two leaders, veterans E
d Jovanovski and Shane Doan, each have ten points so far. But the real numbers to look at for this team is the penalty minutes. Center Martin Hanzal is leading the way with twenty-five minutes in the box, last year he had forty minutes all season. He is followed closely by winger Scottie Upshall who has twenty minutes. But the really impressive one is winger Paul Bissonnette. Having only appeared in six games so far, Bissonnette has managed to earn seventeen penalty minutes while scoring zero points and only registering a single shot on goal. Paul Bissonnette is the epitome of the term hockey goon.
Needless to say, the Coyotes are doing everything they can to put a successful team on the ice. Now it is up to the fans to do their job and put more bodies in the seats. There has only been one sell out and that was for the home opener which featured reduced ticket pricing and a free shirt for every fan that entered the building. It should not have to take gimmick promotions to fill the arena when the team is playing well. Hopefully as the season goes on more people will make their way to the games, and hopefully the Coyotes will continue to perform at the same level they are now, if not better. Regardless, this should be a fun and interesting season to watch.
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So Long Dark Days Of Summer
This past summer may have been one of the worst off-season for any sports franchise in history. It is already bad enough that the NHL has been having a lot of trouble rebuilding it’s image since the lock out that caused the cancellation of the 2004-05 season. So it did not help when the ownership group of the Phoenix Coyotes announced that they were no longer able to operate the franchise and filed for bankruptcy.
This past off-season has been dominated by negative head lines regarding the Coyotes. Aside from all of the mainstream media outlets reporting on how bad the team performed last season, there were the countless updates on the happenings in bankruptcy court. There has been a lot of speculation as to who would come in as the new owner of the team, but really no solid front runner as a legitimate buyer. For a time there was a group that included Jerry Reinsdorf that was a serious contender, but they have seemed to disappear down the stretch. One of the most serious potential buyers has been Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, but the main concern about his offer is that he intends to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which is just outside of Toronto. The other potential buyer is the NHL itself. The NHL has stated that they have made the offer in an effort to keep the team in Arizona, and they plan to sell to a third party owner outside of the bankruptcy court process. Last week, the bankruptcy court ruled against both the NHL and Balsillie, however, the court gave the NHL the opportunity to resubmit it’s bid with some restructuring to include concessions for the current owners.
To add to the mess in the courts, after being a no show for all of training camp and the pre-season games, Wayne Gretzky announced that he was stepping down as head coach as well as managing partner of the ownership group. He said it was because he would not fit into the plans of either of the leading candidates to become the new owners, and that he wanted to do what was best for the team. There is no way of knowing whither or not this is the true reason he decided to step down or not, the only person that knows what Gretzky is truly thinking is Gretzky himself. One thing that is for sure, is that stepping down as head coach will definitely be for the better of the team. No matter how great he was as a player, Gretzky is not even a good coach. In his four seasons as head coach, the Coyotes were 143-161 and never came close to making the playoffs.
So far, under new head coach Dave Tippett, formally of the Dallas Stars, the Coyotes are 1-0 with an opening night 6-3 pounding of the Los Angeles Kings on the road. It is yet to be seen if that is a sign of how the team will play this season, but Wednesday night will be a good test against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Regardless of how well the team performs on the ice, let us all hope that they will remain here in Phoenix beyond this season.