Better luck next year: The Arizona Coyotes did what was expected (again)
They did not win much. They did not totally embarrass themselves on the ice. They have some young pieces starting to be put in place. Nobody knows where they will play in the future.
Welcome back to Better Luck Next Year, a series that will focus on each team as they get eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. What went wrong, why it went wrong, what (if anything) went right, and what is next. We continue today with the next team to be officially eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention: The Arizona Coyotes.
At this point I am not even entirely sure what to say about the Arizona Coyotes.
The ownership and arena situation remains as bleak as ever, continuing to leave the long-term future of the team in doubt. I do not want to dunk on them for playing in a college arena because there is a big part of me that actually wants to see a game there. It seems like it would probably be fun and provide an amazing atmosphere. A completely full 5,000 seat arena is way better than a 60 percent full 18,000 seat building.
But I also know it is not a sustainable situation and I remain unconvinced the latest and greatest arena plan is going to be the one that solves all of their problems and secures their long-term outlook. Mostly because like all of the others I figure it will never become a reality. At this point we are at a “believe it when you see it” mindset.
The roster is still mostly bad, but they do have a strong farm system and some real NHL talent on the roster that might provide something of a light at the end of a very long tunnel. They are also still loaded with a comical number of draft picks in the coming years. Ten percent of the second-round picks that exist in the NHL over the next three seasons belong to the Coyotes, which is actually kind of insane when you think about it. They gotta find at least one player out of that group, don’t they?
Even then it’s a long-term solution rather than a short-term solution. When it finally pays off the team might not even be playing in Arizona. So who the hell really knows?
On the ice they missed the playoffs for a fourth-consecutive season and for the 11th time in 12 years. That one playoff appearance during that stretch was the zombie 2019-20 playoffs where the number of playoff teams expanded to include 24 teams. If things had remained normal that year, the playoff drought would be at 12 years.
They do not have a single defensemen under contract for next season at the NHL level, and while there are some real building blocks starting to establish themselves they have not yet found a true cornerstone player and lacking the type of scoring depth that would be necessary to even think about a playoff spot next season.
There is still a lot of work to be done here.
Anybody that is a fan of this team and stuck it out through all of this is a special kind of loyal, and I hope things eventually work out for them both on the ice and with some sort of long-term, sustainable solution to keep the team there.
But man. It just seems like such a challenge at this point.
As for this year’s team, I think it mostly did what was expected. Nobody should have had any serious expectations for a playoff spot as their latest rebuild rolls on. For a team like this the name of the game is just be competitive on most nights and get some development from their young players.
I think to a point, that happened.
So let’s talk about them and where they go from here.
Everything that went wrong
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