The Coyotes are sitting at the bottom of the league. Washington and Columbus have seven points. We are sitting at nine with Pittsburgh and Nashville. Ok, so it's early on. A lot of hockey to be played. They can only get better, right? We have not won in nine games. One of our best players and most consistent forwards, Mike Johnson, will probably opt for surgery and could miss three months or more. Somebody tell me some positives that you see early on.
And Chicken- Losing so Francis will get fired does not count :D
our record isn't reflective of our effort.
we all knew this was going to be a tough year. our defense is our achilles heel until the youth back there fully matures. We've seen some great signs with the emergence of Paul Mara, David Tanabe, and to a lesser extent Suchy but we're still young and prone to coughing up the puck or taking a bad penalty at crucial moments. Vaananen hasn't taken a step forward yet in his development and Ference has regressed to the point where he is probably our number 6 guy. Hulse has played well in his number 5 slot but I don't think he's capable of assuming a larger role on this team.
Some nice signs at forward. Doan has taken things up a level. As has Nagy and Radivojevic. Gratton has found a role. However, Langkow has taken a step back in quality of play IMO and Johnson is on the shelf. Hrdina looks lost and Savage continues to be a disappointment. Kolanos is a guy who has to pick up his play to a higher level if the Coyotes hope to make any sort of noise this year.
Overall our goalies have played below expectations; although Burke played very well last night in a game where I'm sure he was attempting to make a favorable impression on the Avalanche upper management. He made several remarkable saves last night and was the only real reason we had a shot at any points last night.
Dancing Chicken
11-07-2003, 09:35 AM
The Coyotes are sitting at the bottom of the league. And Chicken- Losing so Francis will get fired does not count :D
Ahh, man that take so much of what I have to say away. I still like what I am seeing at times. We now have speed and skill but they seem to be lost. They need some leadership and a chance to grow and find out what they are made of. We need to solve our goalie problem fast, its getting ugly. I also belive we should make very limited trades, we have the making of a great team, yes Great but we are lacking something and its not skill, its the leadership the motivator. We can not count on Booby thats for sure, Doan is finding a new life in his game but where our true leader, someone who been to the finals, someone who can lead this team. we need that kind of personality.. Even with the crappy goal tending we have been in most games.. we are just missing that peice (and a real coach, sorry I tried)
PhoPhan
11-07-2003, 10:19 AM
This is and has been for a long time, a streaky team. I am not ready to jump off the bandwagon yet, though. I will go on record as saying if they don't make the playoffs, they had better finish bottom 3. There is no gray area.
This is and has been for a long time, a streaky team. I am not ready to jump off the bandwagon yet, though. I will go on record as saying if they don't make the playoffs, they had better finish bottom 3. There is no gray area.
The grey area is where the Coyotes have existed their whole time in the desert. We need to sink into the dastardly black for a while so we can gain momentum and swing into the heavenly white with exuberance :p