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HEAD COACH
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Jim Schoenfeld
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ROSTER
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C - Jeremy Roenick, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen,
Daniel Briere. LW - Keith Tkachuk, Greg Adams, Jim Cummins, Mike
Sullivan. RW - Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Brad Isbister, Shane Doan.
D - Keith Carney, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg
Tverdovsky, Deron Quint, J.J. Daigneault, Jason Doig. G - Nikolai
Khabibulin, Jimmy Waite.
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INJURIES
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1/8 - Gerald Diduck, d (knee sprain, six weeks); 1/8 -
Brad Isbister, rw (groin strain, day-to-day); 1/19 - Bob Corkum, c
(hip flexor, day-to-day).
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TRANSACTIONS
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1/10 - Recalled Trevor Letowksi, c, Rob Murray, c, and
Jason Doig, d, from Springfield (AHL); 1/13 Acquired J.J.
Daigneault, d, from Nashville for future considerations; 1/22 -
Assigned Stephen Leach, rw, Trevor Letowski, c, and Rob Murray, c,
to Springfield.
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GAME RESULTS
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1/11 Buffalo W 1-0
1/13 Pittsburgh W 5-3
1/15 at Nashville L 2-0
1/17 at Chicago T 1-1
1/19 St. Louis W 4-2
1/21 Anaheim T 3-3
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STANDINGS
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Pacific Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Dallas 43 27 9 7 61 127 89
Phoenix 42 24 11 7 55 113 87
Anaheim 45 17 19 9 43 113 108
San Jose 45 15 18 12 42 104 106
Los Angeles 45 16 25 4 36 106 121
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TEAM NEWS
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by Bob Chebat, Phoenix Correspondents
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At the All-Star Break, the Coyotes remain one of the best teams in
the NHL, sitting just six points behind the league-leading Dallas
Stars. They missed their captain, Keith Tkachuk, dearly, however,
while he was nursing a broken rib he received in a game against the
Kings prior to the New Year. With Keith in the lineup, the Coyotes
are an amazing 20-4-6, while going 4-7-1 without him. Perhaps this
makes him a candidate for the Hart Trophy this season? Only time
will tell.
Here is a detailed report card of the Coyotes performance so far
this season headed in to the break. Can this team finally get past
the first round of the playoffs? Only time will tell, but I hate
the thought of running in to Edmonton or Anaheim in the first
round.
Goaltending - A+
Nikolai Khabibulin and Jimmy Waite have become one of the best
goaltending tandems in the NHL this season. They will both tell you
that this is thanks to the defense and having a great team in front
of them, but don't let that fool you. Both netminders have played
outstanding hockey all season long and when the offense has
struggled to score, they have kept the team in the games and have
stolen at least eight wins so far this season.
Defense - A-
Teppo Numminen, Jyrki Lumme, and Keith Carney are the core to what
is one of the top defensive groups in the NHL. Gerald Diduck has
played very well in his reduced role this season, but unfortunately
he was injured prior to the break and will be out another 3-4
weeks. Oleg Tverdovsky is not scoring as much as the Coyotes had
hoped for, and too often he gets caught up ice. Opponents have a
tendency to walk right around him when on the fly into the Coyotes
zone. GM Bobby Smith picked up J.J. Daigneault prior to the break
to add more depth to the blue line. If the Coyotes are going to
make a serious run at the Stanley Cup this season, the defense
could use a little more fine tuning, but not too much.
Forwards - C
The top line of Jeremy Roenick, Dallas Drake and Keith Tkachuk is as
good as it gets in the NHL. Take that away, and the Coyotes score 12
goals in 7 games, 5 of which came in one of them. After the first
line, the Coyotes have a potentially great second line, but still
need a solid center to head up Rick Tocchet and Greg Adams. Daniel
Briere is not progressing as quickly as the Coyotes had hoped, Juha
Ylonen and Shane Doan are having a hard time finding the net, and
Brad Isbister has not provided the offense the Coyotes had hoped for.
The Cliff Ronning trade hurt the team badly when the top line went
down in early January. Phoenix needs its number one trio out there to
be considered serious contenders. The kids have got to start bringing
it up a notch.
Penalty Killing - A+
There is no better group of penalty killers in the league than Bob
Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen and Mike Sullivan. Over the
first half of the season, these guys have given the Coyotes the No.
1 penalty-killing unit in the NHL. Add to that the stellar defense
of Numminen, Carney, Lumme and Diduck, and you have a team that
rarely lets the opponents get on the board while shorthanded. This
has been the biggest improvement the Coyotes have had this season.
Power Play - F
Quite frankly, the power play has been horrible this season, and the
players know it. There have been two serious droughts for the power
play so far this season, one of which lasted eight games. Too much
passing and not enough shooting is part of the problem, the other one
being that the other teams have learned to aggressively attack the
man with the puck and not allow the Coyotes to set up in their zone.
For some reason this seems to work better against the Coyotes than
the rest of the league. Again, if this team wants to make a serious
run at the Cup, the power play is going to have to improve over the
second half of the season. Firing at 12 percent will not win any
championships.
Coaching - A
The coaching staff has done a terrific job this season keeping
things in check and making sure the guys are ready to go every
night. Only on a few occasions have they come out flat and appeared
to have no legs. After the opening night disaster against the
Senators, a gruesome practice the next day was a statement that Jim
Schoenfeld will not tolerate mediocrity or less than 100 percent
from anyone on game nights. His new outlook on the team this season
earned him a spot on the NHL North American All-Star team along
side division-leading Ken Hitchcock of the Dallas Stars. Assistant
coaches John Tortorella, Gordie Roberts and Benoit Allaire are also
to be commended for the jobs they have done. The only thing keeping
this grade from an A+ is the power play.
Overall - B
The power play really brings down the overall grade, but don't let
that fool you. The Coyotes have played with heart and desire all
season long. An ugly opening game at home, followed by a sluggish
couple of games, then the team went on a tear, set several
franchise records, and moved to the top of the NHL power rankings
in every major media source out there. Is this team for real? I
think so, but those few areas need work if they are going to get
over the hump. They have gone from a team we would "like" to see
get past the first round, to one we "expect" to see go deep into
the playoffs. Let's just hope Edmonton or Anaheim are not the first
round opponents this season.
For game-by-game updates, photos and more, please visit my
Unofficial Coyotes Web Site at http://bizbud.com/coyotes.
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