Mid Season Grades

Dr VinnyBoombatz

formerly ctwin22
Mar 21, 2008
10,911
6,446
Chandler, AZ
Well, we're beyond the half way point, so we need to assess the current situation and give overall grades to the roster

I'm going to start out with management as some of our issues on the ice are a direct result of who was brought in

GMDM:
Grade -- B-, It has turned out that Sullivan/Moss didn't replace the offensive production of Whitney/Pyatt Donny didn't have the means to add any significant pieces and although I like Klinkhammer, it wasn't a great off-season for adds to the lineup.

Players:
Grade A Players: OEL (I think he's the only one)

Grade B Players: Boedker, Doan, Chipchura

Grade C Players: DeMo, Yandle, Vermette, Z, Gordon, Moss, Vrbata (injury), Hanzal (injury), Torres, Stone, Schlemko, Johnson, Klinkhammer, Lol

Grade D Players: Smith, Korpikoski, Klesla, Sullivan, Lombardi

This is why we're at in the standings because we've got way too many players playing below their expected level of performance. Our two biggest appointment's have been Smith and Sullivan.

We only have 3 forwards I'd consider to be top 6 material (Vrbata, Boedker and Doan) that is it and what we've found after our soft early schedule is that we're finding it hard to win games or even score.

At this moment we're not a playoff team, and unless Mike Smith can regain his form, we're not going to make the playoffs.
 

Mosby

<3 Uncle Gary
Feb 16, 2012
23,378
18,083
Toronto
I think these are fair grades.

You missed Michalek though. I'd give him an 'A'. He's been fantastic in his return to the Yotes.

Edit: Nvm. I see you gave Z a C.
 

Dr VinnyBoombatz

formerly ctwin22
Mar 21, 2008
10,911
6,446
Chandler, AZ
I gave Z a C because he's getting paid $4m for almost no pts. I believe you can't pay shutdown dmen $4m because they don't rack up pts.

I would rather have a $2m shutdown guy that is slightly worse than the $4m shutdown guy, but that is just me, if we were the flyers or one of the other high spending teams it wouldn't matter, but we're the Coyotes and the extra $2m we had to pay Z would have been the difference in keeping Whitney rather than having to go with Sullivan.
 

XX

Waiting for Ishbia
Dec 10, 2002
54,886
14,502
PHX
Z isn't asked to shoot or contribute on offense. He is a 25 point or so scorer when he plays in a system that asks him to contribute. Tippett doesn't. If doing so lets OEL do his thing, it's worth it. I really have no problem paying one of the best shot blockers in the game $4 million. Unless you think Gordon isn't worth the money. He gets paid for the exact same thing, only with half the icetime and zero offense.

I can think of worse ways to spend $4 million. Players like Z are not sexy but you would notice it if they left.
 

kihekah19*

Registered User
Oct 25, 2010
6,016
2
Phoenix, Arizona
I think it's safe to say that with basically a .500 record, the entire team is playing average.

I have seen no one (other than OEL) play above average for anything longer than brief periods of time.
 

Tad Mikowski

Hail to the King Baby
Sponsor
May 31, 2012
1,534
667
Phoenix, AZ
I'd grade the team as a whole a C-

Losing effective players, new guys not living up to their potential and a shortened schedule is a recipe for disaster.

We've shown glimpses of being a dominate team, but for some reason they just refuse to keep a foot on the gas.

Smith is having a bad year for the most part, but his defense isn't helping with all the turnovers.

In my opinion this is a key off season for the future of the organization
 

Bandit34

Registered User
Jul 23, 2007
1,618
360
HFBoards
A- Ekman-Larsson, Michalek, Morris

B- Chipchura, Doan, Bissonnette, Johnson/Klinkhammer, Boedker, Vrbata, Hanzal

C- Yandle, Moss, Gordon, Klesla, LaBarbara, Stone, Torres

D- Vermette, Korpikoski, Smith, Sullivan, Schlemko, Lombardi

I couldn't give anyone F's haha.
 

SniperHF

Rejecting Reports
Mar 9, 2007
42,632
21,042
Phoenix
Stole Bandit's form :P

A- Ekman-Larsson, Morris, Boedker, Hanzal

B- Chipchura, Bissonnette,

C- Yandle, Moss, Gordon, Klesla, LaBarbara, Stone, Torres, Doan, Michalek, Vermette, Schlemko, Johnson

D- Korpikoski, Sullivan , Lombardi, Vrbata

F: Smith

Basically an A is great, career year type stuff. B is above expectations. C is about what I thought. And D and below is not living up.
 

Llewzaher

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
3,856
1,235
North America
Stole Bandit's form :P

A- Ekman-Larsson, Morris, Boedker, Hanzal

B- Chipchura, Bissonnette,

C- Yandle, Moss, Gordon, Klesla, LaBarbara, Stone, Torres, Doan, Michalek, Vermette, Schlemko, Johnson

D- Korpikoski, Sullivan , Lombardi, Vrbata

F: Smith

Basically an A is great, career year type stuff. B is above expectations. C is about what I thought. And D and below is not living up.

This is pretty good , though I'd move Hanzal down to a B .Vrbata I think was leadning the team before he got hurt .

Edit : Doan could be an A+ if he played every game like last night . I'd give Klinkhammer a B
As much as Smith is my biggest pet peeve at the moment , there has been times where he was great .. I would put him as a D .
 

Sciamachy

Shadow Coyote
Jan 31, 2008
2,096
118
Based on performance against expectations/past, not grading down for injury time:

A - Boedker, OEL

B - Yandle, Demo, Z, Hanzal, Chip, Biz

C - Doan, Vermette, Moss, Gordon, Stone, Lambo, Schlemko, Johnson, Barbs

D - Korpi, Torres, Vrbata, Klesla

F - Sullivan, Smith

We're about where I expected us to be in the standings, maybe a little higher. I remember how bad this team looked the last couple years during those 20 game stretches in the schedule where we had to travel before almost ever game with 1 game home stands, left very little practice time for over a month. The team often looked inconsistent, slow and bad habits really crept into play. I sort of saw the compacted schedule this year similar to those travel stretches, as it leads to fewer practices than normal, practices which this team has always seemed to need.

There are still 3 games left against both SJ and Detroit. If the team can keep up the play from last night moving forward, then there's a shot we get in to the playoffs. However I think we may have to sweep one of those 3 game sets to do so.
 

Llewzaher

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
3,856
1,235
North America
A- Ekman-Larsson, Morris, Boedker,

B- Chipchura, Bissonnette, Klinkhammer

C- Yandle, Moss, Gordon, Klesla, LaBarbara, Stone, Torres, Doan, Michalek, Vermette, Schlemko, Johnson , Hanzal , Vrbata

D- Korpikoski, Sullivan , Lombardi, Smith
 

slv

Registered User
Sep 19, 2012
262
115
astral
А - none

B - OEL, Boedker

C - Morris, Yandle, Doan, Chipchura, Michalek, Vrbata, Hanzal, Moss, Torres, Schlemko, Stone, Bissonnette, Klinkhammer, Vermette, Johnson

D - Klesla, Gordon, LaBarbera

E - Lombardi

F - Sullivan, Korpikoski

N (none) - Smith
 

Summer Rose

Red Like Roses
Sponsor
May 3, 2012
90,728
20,420
Gainesville, Florida
For me:


A - Kyle Chipchura, Boyd Gordon, Zbynek Michalek, Oliver Ekman-Larsson

B - Mikkel Boedker, Jason LaBarbera, Chad Johnson, Martin Hanzal, David Schlemko, Raffi Torres, Robert Klinkhammer, Radim Vrbata

C - Paul Bissonnette, Martin Hanzal, Rostislav Klesla, Lauri Korpikoski, Derek Morris, Shane Doan, Chris Summers

D - Mike Smith, Antoine Vermette, David Moss, Matthew Lombardi, Keith Yandle

F - Steve Sullivan


If I missed anyone, you can add them to the "C" category, which is basically where I put everyone who hasn't really stuck out (in either a good or bad way). The ratings are a bit weighted based on team expectations, i.e. Mike Smith has just been "average" which would normally be a C, but considering how often we have to lean on him so heavily, his "average" play drops him down to a D, and so on. Likewise with goalies, LaBarbera has been actually pretty solid when the team has called on him but giving him a B and Smith a D doesn't mean I think Barbs should start over Smith.
 

SR

Registered User
Mar 31, 2008
6,715
5,311
Arizona
Stole Bandit's form :P

A- Ekman-Larsson, Morris, Boedker, Hanzal

B- Chipchura, Bissonnette,

C- Yandle, Moss, Gordon, Klesla, LaBarbara, Stone, Torres, Doan, Michalek, Vermette, Schlemko, Johnson

D- Korpikoski, Sullivan , Lombardi, Vrbata

F: Smith

Basically an A is great, career year type stuff. B is above expectations. C is about what I thought. And D and below is not living up.

This is what I would rank as well.

Bissonnette has been actually noticeable. I think Chip deserves an A grade, the guy has shown a lot more than he has in years past (even with the Ducks)

Smith has been awful. Korpikoski is non exsistant. Sullivan is no Whitney and Moss? Rather have Rechlichz up than him.
 

XX

Waiting for Ishbia
Dec 10, 2002
54,886
14,502
PHX
I'll do mine a little different. This is just performance based.

In order of importance (left is better)

Keep: Ekman-Larsson, Boedker, Hanzal, Schlemko, Stone, Morris, Gordon, Chipchura, Bissonnette, Summers

Don't Care/Trade If Possible: Vrbata, Vermette, Yandle, Klesla, Torres, Doan, Michalek, Korpikoski, Johnson

Get Rid Of: Lombardi, LaBarbera, Moss, Smith, Sullivan

When you separate guys out like that, it's really not hard to see where this team went wrong. You can't have wasted seasons from key guys. A terrible season from a starting goaltender, an underwhelming season from your top scoring D and important ancillary players coasting; a recipe for a top 10 pick. If this team had the option to convert every player not in the 'keep' section to roughly equivalent trade value, I'd do it in a heartbeat. If you trade Doan and Yandle, you may as well just strip the bones bare and try to rebuild the roster younger and more complete. That doesn't mean tank for 5 straight seasons like the Penguins or Oilers. It means making some smart trades and signings, while keeping the heart beating. The team has basically skated by on the contributions from free agents and streaky scorers like Vrbata. That's not really sustainable. This is the first transformative offseason for this franchise since Tippett and Maloney came along. Sadly, they may not even be under contract to help see it through.

A whole lot of change ahead for what was once one of the best post-lockout budget teams ever assembled.
 

cobra427

Registered User
May 6, 2012
9,327
3,347
The team has underachieved so far, so most players or the key players have under performed. It can't be any other way, which is why I think the analysis is the following:

Above average: DMO, Chip, Biz, Barbs

Below average: Smith, Sullivan, Vermette

Hanzel great but injured, Doan great lately but average overall, Verby injured, OEL we expected to be this good, Bods we expected to be this good.

The bottom line is two 4th line players, the back up goalie and one veteran D that lost 15 pounds are our over achievers from expectations. Outside of DMO, not many minutes here.

The problem is two top 6 forwards under performance along with Smith. Smith would be considered in the bottom third of the NHL for starters this year. Tons of minutes here.

If Smith plays great we make the playoffs, if he does not, we won't, simple as that....
 

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