Report Card: Game Block 1-10

[Sinurgy]

While we've graded players in 10 game blocks before, thought I'd try a new spin on it. Rather than talk about every single player on the team, there will be 10 categories. I'd like everyone who participates in this thread to rate the Coyotes on each category. The scale will range from 1-5 (worst to best). After everyone has posted their ratings, I will compile everyone's ratings and update this post with the composite ratings for each category.

Some guidelines...

• Only use whole numbers
• Please use the template below so it'll be easier for me to quickly compile everyone's rating.
• If you want to give reasons for your ratings or elaborate in anyway, please do that in the Commentary section
• The "Expectations" category is for rating how well you think the team is meeting your expectations for the this season. The other categories should be self-explanatory.

Template to Copy/Paste

Offense:
Defense:
Goaltending:
Powerplay:
Penalty Kill:
Coaching:
Energy & Effort:
Physicality:
Expectations:
Entertaining:

Commentary:
​

The Coyotes record this block: 5-4-1

RESULTS

Categories | Average Rating
Offense|3.3
Defense|2.6
Goaltending|3.1
Powerplay|1.5
Penalty Kill| 3.1
Coaching|3.5
Energy & Effort|3.5
Physicality|2.5
Expectations|4.0
Entertaining|4.0

Commentary:

• Yotes were rated average or above in 7 of 10 categories
• The highest rating the power play got was a 2 haha
• One thing I thought was interesting is that most everyone felt the Coyotes were exceeding their expectations and are entertaining
• That said the highest cumulative rating the Yotes could muster in any one category for this 10 game block was a 4.0

Click to read more...

 

[Sinurgy]

Offense: 4
Defense: 2
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 1
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 4
Physicality: 3
Expectations: 4
Entertaining: 4

Commentary:
The power play has improved but can't forget that Boedker on the point thing was pretty bad and giving up 4 shorthanded goals is kinda ridiculous! While I think they are exceeding expectations thus far, I'm not sure how long it's going to last. At least they're fun to watch thus far.

 

[XX]

Should probably 1-10 for more accuracy.

edit: to be clear, I meant the scale. It's more reflective when there's more room between options.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 2
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 2
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 4
Expectations: 4
Entertaining: 3

Commentary:

This is kind of tough because over the first 10 games there have been very high peaks and very low valleys, so it averages out to a lot of 3 rankings. Hoping there will be more variety and improvement in the next 10 game block. Domi and Duclair bump up the curve a lot on the Energy/Effort, Offense, and Entertaining categories. For goaltending, there have been four very good performances, but they were offset by four significantly underachieving ones. Normally that would rate a 3 but I took a point off for stick-throwing...

BTW, great idea, man.

 

[BUX7PHX]

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 4
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 5
Entertaining: 4

Commentary: Obviously exceeding expectations, so that is a 5. PP moves the puck around well, regardless of who is at the point, we just had trouble converting in the early games and giving up shorties. Physicality is probably the area where I feel like we have a lot to gain. We are not backing down, but in watching some of the games, we are compacting our defense down in the crease area, but Grossmann is the only one whose physicality really means something. Would like to see us finishing a few more checks (not as late as Downie has, though).

Everything else ranges from slightly below average to slightly above average.

 

[kihekah19*]

Template to Copy/Paste

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 4
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 4
Entertaining: 3

Commentary: First I would like to second that this is a good idea, as I get so tired of hearing folks analyze individual players.
Basically two is below average and three above. I'm seeing a team that is for the most part (give it a three ) playing slightly above average, with the exception (overall) of the goaltending being above and physicality being below. I struggled with energy and effort, as the many poor starts have been due to lack thereof, but great effort is what it will take for this team to win and (overall) they are (just barely) on the plus side of that. Coaching would have been a five, had it not been for the Boedker at point experiment and while I'm most likely being to critical of that (after all you've got to try), it didn't work and basically that means it was the wrong decision.

 

[kihekah19*]

Boys

He can't compile and create a result from two grades for one criteria!

IE: 2-3, 3-4

 

[cobra427]

Offense:4
Defense:3
Goaltending:4
Powerplay:1
Penalty Kill:3
Coaching:4
Energy & Effort:4
Physicality:3
Expectations:4
Entertaining:4

We are way above expectations. Nobody would have predicted we would be 5-4-1 or better in the first 10 games. Goal tending has not lost us any games and has helped us win a few, I think we are good there. PP was bad, too many short handed goals, hopefully that is fixed now. PK has been way better than last year. Rookies have been great. Vermette is a big disappointment so far.

 

[BUX7PHX]

Boys

He can't compile and create a result from two grades for one criteria!

IE: 2-3, 3-4

Can i use 3.5 instead?

I kid, I kid - will edit my information

 

[GiveAFlyingPuck]

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 1
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 2
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 5
Entertaining: 3

Commentary: The last game against Boston kind of made everything go lower for me. I don't think anyone expected us to be bouncing around 1st place and just out of playoff position, even this early. Duclair needs to make his presence known tonight against Vancouver.

 

[Etch]

Offense: 2
Defense: 2
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 4
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 3
Entertaining: 4

Commentary:

Probably going to give a lower offense score than most, but when the 2 rookies are the only source of offense, it doesn't bode well going forward when teams figure that out. OEL, Vermette, Boeds(besides hat trick game) have been largely invisible offensively.

Smith had some good games but inconsistent as always.

Tip I rated highly, even though I'm anti-Tip. Overall I think he's handled things well and hasn't given me more than a couple minor irritations.

 

[AZviaNJ]

Offense: 4
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 4
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 4
Physicality: 3
Expectations: 5
Entertaining: 4

Commentary:
Again, great idea and nice way to view the team more broadly vs individual players.
Agree with much of what has already been written so I won't pile on.
What I will say is 7 of the first 10 on the road,
11 of the next 17 also on the road including 2 more East Coast swings, if they're able to play .500 hockey through this stretch there's every reason to believe they'll challenge for a playoff spot come April.

 

[Sinurgy]

Should probably 1-10 for more accuracy.

edit: to be clear, I meant the scale. It's more reflective when there's more room between options.

haha as I was writing this up I literally thought to myself, "XX is going to post something about what's wrong with my setup but will not actually participate"!

 

[ck26]

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 4
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 4
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 5
Entertaining: 5

Far better than the house burning down (see avatar) we predicted 6 weeks ago. Smith's mostly been good. Domi and Duclair and Rieder and Hanzal and OEL have been fantastic. And while it's a leap, "Entertaining" gets a big boost because of what I'm seeing Strome and Dvorak and Garland and MacInnis and Letunov doing in the prospect threads.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 1
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 4
Energy & Effort: 4
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 5
Entertaining: 5

I can't give more than a 1 to our power play due to the 3 short handed goals in just 10 games. Or was it 4? Anyway, apart from that this team is fun and anything but the tire fire that it was last year.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

Offense: 4
Defense: 1
Goaltending: 1
Powerplay: 1
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 3
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 2
Entertaining: 5

We're averaging 2.7 goals per game, I think for us that is a record in the first 10 games, even if it's just 3 players that are doing all the damage.

There is something wrong with our defensive chemistry, I can't imagine a group containing Aucoin/Jovo/Michalek/Yandle and others were better than this group, but it seems to be so.

Mike has a sub .910 save %, that is not worth anything more than a 3.

I'll admit Tippett is doing a good job playing the kids, but he still oozes back into veteran mode when we're ahead and trying to stave off when he should still be pushing with the guys who got us the lead...plus I want a more up tempo style that benefits players like Domi/Duclair/Boedker and Rieder

It's been entertaining just watching Domi/Duclair, we've already had more highlights in the first 10 games than the entire season last year and we've still got lots of skill coming.

I do wish we would land in a range in the draft that we could land either:
Matthews, Nylander, Tkachuk

 

[Sinurgy]

Offense: 6
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 2
Penalty Kill: 4
Coaching: 5
Energy & Effort: 5
Physicality: 4
Entertaining: 7

We're averaging 2.7 goals per game, I think for us that is a record in the first 10 games, even if it's just 3 players that are doing all the damage.

There is something wrong with our defensive chemistry, I can't imagine a group containing Aucoin/Jovo/Michalek/Yandle and others were better than this group, but it seems to be so.

Mike has a sub .910 save %, that is not worth anything more than a 3.

I'll admit Tippett is doing a good job playing the kids, but he still oozes back into veteran mode when we're ahead and trying to stave off when he should still be pushing with the guys who got us the lead...plus I want a more up tempo style that benefits players like Domi/Duclair/Boedker and Rieder

It's been entertaining just watching Domi/Duclair, we've already had more highlights in the first 10 games than the entire season last year and we've still got lots of skill coming.

I do wish we would land in a range in the draft that we could land either:
Matthews, Nylander, Tkachuk

Will you edit your post to reflect the 1 to 5 rating scale, that way I can include your input in the results. Thank you sir!

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

done

 

[XX]

haha as I was writing this up I literally thought to myself, "XX is going to post something about what's wrong with my setup but will not actually participate"!

You have more categories than you do room to answer. It's a pretty straightforward statistical concept. An average answer of 3.4 vs 3.37 isn't going to tell us anything.

 

[Sinurgy]

You have more categories than you do room to answer. It's a pretty straightforward statistical concept. An average answer of 3.4 vs 3.37 isn't going to tell us anything.

 

[roadrunner]

is right.

 

[roadrunner]

Categories Average Rating
Offense 3
Defense 3
Goaltending 3
Powerplay 1
Penalty Kill 3
Coaching 2
Energy & Effort 2
Physicality 2
Expectations 4
Entertaining 3

I'm not a member of the roast Tip brigade, but the slow starts are concerning. And whose idea was it to put Boedker on the point on the PP? He did it in juniors? That's the rationale?

 

[Jakey53]

That' what I say.

 

[SniperHF]

Offense: 4
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 3
Powerplay: 1
Penalty Kill: 4
Coaching: 3
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 3
Entertaining: 3

 

[_Del_]

Offense: 3
Defense: 3
Goaltending: 2
Powerplay: 1
Penalty Kill: 3
Coaching: 3
Energy & Effort: 3
Physicality: 2
Expectations: 3
Entertaining: 4

I expected very little this year, but the injection of skill has at least kept us competitive in most games. Last year a two-goal deficit was insurmountable. This year, who knows? Much more exciting. Also only one game that I've watched so far was terrible and soul-crushing. A much better ratio than last year.
BUT stubborn coaching decisions and underperforming by key veterans who I thought would be contributing are still hampering my expectation score.
I know it's anathema, but I still hope we really devote this year to development of young players and let them get used to playing in critical situations so that next year we can add even more young players and not look like a complete circus as a consequence of overly cautious use of them this year.