If your making hits, you don’t have the puck. Skating, positioning and puck moving ability is way more important than hitting. Yes being physical is an add, but it’s last on the list. OEL is a great example.
Does anyone still think we're a playoff team?
- Thread starter azcanuck
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I still say no for two reasons...not enough consistent scoring with too many guys having no goal droughts. Cant count on shorties forever.
Two...depth. Defense we can manage a bit but gheez anyone else goes down (and they will its the NHL) were screwed.
Two...depth. Defense we can manage a bit but gheez anyone else goes down (and they will its the NHL) were screwed.
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Unfortunately, I think your first point is strong. Our "stars" are not scoring like stars, and overall our offense is anemic. Goals per game is near the bottom of the league. Take away our 10 shorties and we're dead last in scoring.
FinnishCoyote
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We had little chance to make it with a healthy team
With like 5099973637 different injuries, no way
With like 5099973637 different injuries, no way
azcanuck
Registered User
We lack gritty skilled players. We don't have enough of those. Fischer has a little bit of both which on our team you don't see much of. It's a requirement to go far into the playoffs. Regular season hockey is so different. We are a puck possession team. If we don't have it we are cooked. We are like a block of soft cheese. We cannot be a team who sits back and counter attacks. We can win when we have the puck most of the night. The recipe is there. I'd just like to see some more balance. But maybe it's not in chyka's analytics.
Not sure if I would say players. If we could add one I would be happy and content. Fischer, Crouse and Cousins are all gritty. The hard part is finding one, and who do we trade. You say that if we don't have puck possession we are cooked, but that is true for most teams on most nights. With puck possession and speed we can draw a lot of penalties, but the problem is our PP is AWOL. If our PP was better we probably could have won a few more games.
azcanuck
Registered User
What you want is some of your finesse players to have more grit. We have guys like Cousins like every team. But our skilled guys are pretty punchless. they are soft as butter. That really hurts.
Some teams can counter attack because they are built more to defend. We are clearly not. We have the speed in place to be a puck possession team. When we are not engaged we'll get smoked. I don't think we have a team with the DNA to compete at all in the playoffs. The mix is all wrong but it's a young team and we can add to it.
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I consider myself the eternal optimist, particularly when it concerns my beloved Coyotes, but the playoffs are looking like another long shot. Here's the biggest problem...we ain't scoring enough! 
Last season we averaged 2.51 goals per game. This year we are scoring at a 2.61 pace, which is 4th worst in the league.
Our top point producer ranks 121st.
The bright side....we have the best PK and our goals allowed is much better than last year and 5th best.
They say defense wins championships, but ya can't win if you don't score.
I'm no coaching genius, but it could be our coach and his system are the problem.
Last season we averaged 2.51 goals per game. This year we are scoring at a 2.61 pace, which is 4th worst in the league.
Our top point producer ranks 121st.
The bright side....we have the best PK and our goals allowed is much better than last year and 5th best.
They say defense wins championships, but ya can't win if you don't score.
I'm no coaching genius, but it could be our coach and his system are the problem.
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Kyle003p
Registered User
I consider myself the eternal optimist, particularly when it concerns my beloved Coyotes, but the playoffs are looking like another long shot. Here's the biggest problem...we ain't scoring enough!
Last season we averaged 2.51 goals per game. This year we are scoring at a 2.61 pace, which is 4th worst in the league.
Our top point producer ranks 121st.
The bright side....we have the best PK and our goals allowed is much better than last year and 5th best.
They say defense wins championships, but ya can't win if you don't score.
I'm no coaching genius, but it could be our coach and his system ar the problem.
the 3 shutouts in the beginning of the year skew those results a bit. since then our pace has been much better. the thing that concerns me the most is the consistancy. 5 goals one night and 0-1 the next. it's maddening
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True. throw out the first 4 games and we are at 3.21 goals per game, which puts us 12th best. Ah I feel much better...we're making the playoffs!!! maybe.
Name Nameless
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True. throw out the first 4 games and we are at 3.21 goals per game, which puts us 12th best. Ah I feel much better...we're making the playoffs!!! maybe.
Really. Throw out the first five games, and the team gets 17 points in 13 games. That's 101 points if this pace can be upheld now, a slam dunk to make the playoffs. Don't need to score more goals at all.
Don't say it wouldn't be nice...
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Imaravencawcaw
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I'd love to see what percentage of teams with the 3rd best GAA make the playoffs every year, I'd imagine it's extremely likely.
I looked at it over 10 years or so about a month ago when I was looking up something else. The most recent high end defensive teams that have not made the playoffs were 5th-7th in GA. Blues, Kings Wild IIRC. Better always made it.
But their offenses were all better than ours. And those teams have the opportunity to load up at the TDL where we don't have the luxury of doing so should we be in the mix. We don't have the trade ammo and even if we did the rebuild is too fragile to risk it much.
FinnishCoyote
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I just think we simply don't have enough fire power. We don't score enough goals to be a playoff team
We have playoff caliber defence and goaltending when healthy, forwards are bottom-5 in NHL
We have playoff caliber defence and goaltending when healthy, forwards are bottom-5 in NHL
azcanuck
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Every team should be able to "throw out" their worst streaks. It's only fair.
Sigh.
Name Nameless
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I do off course see your point, but there is a difference between throwing out a bad start, and a streak inside the sample.
Sigh away. A massive difference. I can sigh too.
azcanuck
Registered User
you're right . The start of the season should only matter if you win. If you don't you can just throw it away. Only the start of the season though????
It's like a football game. The running back got a 150 yards. Two of the runs were 30 and 40 yards. Many fans say well look at his average if he didn't have those two runs: not that great.
Dude, it all counts. That's why they play 82 games. And as the season goes along you too will see why the Coyotes are not a playoff team. Right now they've had some success (maybe throw that out?).
Puzzling fans.
GhostofTommyBolin
Registered User
I don't think they're going to make for a few reasons, but mainly because of where they stood on American Thanksgiving. Over the past 5 years, 78 percent of teams in a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving made the playoffs. That's a hefty number. Yeah, a team can go on a late run sometimes or flip-flop with a team that was barely ahead of them, but it's difficult to do.
The Coyotes would have to jump four teams in order to do it, as well, and I don't think they're better than any of those 4: Chicago, Edmonton, Anaheim, and Vancouver.
The Coyotes would have to jump four teams in order to do it, as well, and I don't think they're better than any of those 4: Chicago, Edmonton, Anaheim, and Vancouver.
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Lawson of Anarchy
I'm kind of embarrassed
Our next game will be interesting. The Caps may come out aggressive after that Knights game last night. That Ovi open ice hit. That Wilson takedown.
BUX7PHX
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Remember that we have also played a pretty tough schedule to open the season. Through 26 games,
October: 8/11 games against current playoff teams
November: 7/13 games against current playoff teams
December: 0/2 games against current playoff teams (remaining games in DEC have 8/13 as playoff teams)
Looking ahead,
January: 4/11 games against current playoff teams
February: 8/14 games against current playoff teams
March: 7/15 games against current playoff teams
April: 1/3 games against current playoff teams
Our 2nd half of the season is shaping up to be a little easier than the 1st half, just going by who is in/out of the playoffs, so I think that there is definitive ground that can be made up, especially when 23/39 games are occurring against playoff teams before the New Year's, and 20/43 are occurring from JAN onward....
If we can ride January momentum into February and March, a la what Tippett's playoff teams typically did, I think we are in a good position for at least the #3 seed in the Pacific.
October: 8/11 games against current playoff teams
November: 7/13 games against current playoff teams
December: 0/2 games against current playoff teams (remaining games in DEC have 8/13 as playoff teams)
Looking ahead,
January: 4/11 games against current playoff teams
February: 8/14 games against current playoff teams
March: 7/15 games against current playoff teams
April: 1/3 games against current playoff teams
Our 2nd half of the season is shaping up to be a little easier than the 1st half, just going by who is in/out of the playoffs, so I think that there is definitive ground that can be made up, especially when 23/39 games are occurring against playoff teams before the New Year's, and 20/43 are occurring from JAN onward....
If we can ride January momentum into February and March, a la what Tippett's playoff teams typically did, I think we are in a good position for at least the #3 seed in the Pacific.
Imaravencawcaw
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I feel like this is due almost entirely to the fact that we've played so few games against our friends in the Pacific which is an absolute cesspool right now. So it'll be a double whammy, the games should be more winnable, plus those are the games you HAVE to win to push through the pack and get the #3 spot in the Pacific.
BUX7PHX
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Yep - we faced a lot of really good Eastern Conference opponents thus far, without a lot of games against our Pacific foes. The team that we have played a lot in the Pacific is actually Anaheim (will have played them 3 times at the end of December). Already played MIN and NAS twice so far, so only 1 more game against each of those squads. 23 more games to play against Pacific Division foes out of a total of 29 total. So yeah, the opportunities to make up ground and bump teams down through wins are there.
By contrast, Anaheim has played 10/29 games against Pacific foes, Calgary at 10/29, San Jose at 7/29, Vegas at 10/29, Edmonton at 7/29, LA at 9/29, and Vancouver at 9/29. We have San Jose a lot in the back half of the year, along with the Canadian three.
