{coyotes} Coyotes eliminated, couldn't overcome lack of scoring, road woes

Saturday 25 March 2023

{coyotes} Coyotes eliminated, couldn't overcome lack of scoring, road woes

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The Arizona Coyotes failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third consecutive season.

Arizona (27-34-12) was eliminated from contention when it lost 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

The Coyotes have reached the playoffs once since getting to the Western Conference Final in 2012. They lost to the Avalanche in five games in a best-of-7 first-round series in 2020 after defeating the Nashville Predators in four games in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

Here is a look at what happened in the 2022-23 season for the Coyotes and why things could be better next season.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Laurent Dauphin, F; Brett Ritchie, F; Andrew Ladd, F; Connor Mackey, D

Potential restricted free agents: Christian Fischer, F; Jack McBain, F; Matias Maccelli, F; Ivan Prosvetov, G; Connor Ingram, G

Potential 2022 Draft picks: 12

What went wrong

Not enough weapons: Clayton Keller is having a big season with an NHL career-high 79 points (35 goals, 44 assists) in 73 games. The problem is Keller, a forward, has 28 more points than anyone else on the team. Nick Schmaltz is second with 51 points (21 goals, 30 assists) in 54 games. Beyond them, forward Matias Maccelli (40 points; seven goals, 33 assists) is the only other player with at least 40 points this season. They don't have the puck a lot and when they do they're not dangerous enough with it. The Coyotes are averaging 2.75 goals per game, which is 28th in the NHL.

Cold spell: The Coyotes were hanging around the periphery of the playoff race with a 13-16-5 record entering New Year's Eve, 10 points out of a wild card position in the Western Conference and winners of three straight against the Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs. They had at least a semblance of a reason to believe they were in it. They weren't a month later. The Coyotes lost nine in a row in regulation from Dec. 31-Jan. 15, dropping 20 points out of a wild-card position and pretty much wiping out any chance they might have had at a late run. They are 14-9-7 since.

Road weary: The Coyotes have turned Mullett Arena into a real home ice advantage. They're 20-11-3 in their 5,000-seat temporary home on the campus of Arizona State University. The problem is they have not been near the same team on the road. The Coyotes are 7-23-9 on the road. Their seven road wins are the fewest in the NHL.

Reasons for optimism

Keller is signed long term: Keller is proving again this season that he's the real deal and the star the Coyotes can and should build around. There are 21 players in the NHL with at least 79 points and at least 20 players with 35 goals; Keller is one of them. He's in the third year of an eight-year contract he signed with the Coyotes on Sept. 4, 2019. Keller has talked about how he's all in on the rebuild and understands what the Coyotes are doing. He wants to be in Arizona when things turn around.

Draft capital: The Coyotes have invested in draft picks to fuel their rebuild. They have 12 this year, including two in the first round. They have 26 total in the next two years, including eight in the first two rounds. This year, the Coyotes have their own first-round selection, which could be the No. 1 pick and the right to select top prospect Connor Bedard, and a first-round pick from the Ottawa Senators as part of the trade for defenseman Jakob Chychrun. But the Senators' pick is top five protected, meaning if it falls within the top five of the 2023 NHL Draft it will transfer to an unprotected pick in the 2024 draft.

Top prospects on the rise: The Coyotes' future already looks bright with the players they have coming up. Forward Dylan Guenther, the No. 9 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, played 33 games with the Coyotes and had 15 points (six goals, nine assists) before the 19-year-old was sent back to the Western Hockey League. Forward Logan Cooley, the No. 3 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, is a freshman at the University of Minnesota and one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player. Forward Conor Geekie, the No. 11 pick in the 2022 draft, has 72 points for Winnipeg of the WHL. And defenseman Victor Soderstrom has been playing regularly for the Coyotes since he was recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League on Feb. 11. the 22-year-old has six points, all assists, in 21 games.

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