Sorry, this was just too rich an opportunity to pass up. I don't want this thread to degenerate into another great Winnipeg, Hamilton, Houston NHL debate.
However, I do love watching the Coyotes fail.
Quote:
Coyotes' incompetence reaches an absurd level
Dan Bickley
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 2, 2007 12:00 AM
Dan Bickley
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 2, 2007 12:00 AM
The Coyotes wear two masks. They are comedy and tragedy. They are the Cardinals in ice skates, and that might be insult to the Bidwill family.
They are going to miss the playoffs and finish with a losing record for the fourth consecutive season. If you trace footprints back to Winnipeg, you'll find they haven't won a playoff series in 20 years.
In the NHL, which allows 53 percent of its teams to make the playoffs, that's just absurd. And now - six years after the great Wayne Gretzky was ceremoniously hailed for saving the franchise - this wobbly operation is going in yet another new direction. advertisement
Somebody better check to see if they have been using Jack Sparrow's compass.
"I think we've overcome a lot of obstacles that were in our way when we arrived in Phoenix," Coyotes General Manager Mike Barnett said. "And we're now at the point where the plan is very clear. And we're already a couple of steps under way."
Don't laugh. The F.O.G. that surrounds this hockey club - Friends of Gretzky - honestly believe the Stanley Cup is lurking around the corner. Why, just look for yourself. They have a great blue line, a solid goaltending tandem, some nice young players and a suitcase full of draft picks (three first-round picks and four second-round picks in the next two years).
All of that might be true. Except it's not at all what outsiders see when glancing at the wreckage of another lost season.
They see an owner who can't fire the coach because the coach also is an owner, not to mention the greatest name in NHL history. And yet in this soap opera, the coach could actually fire the general manager, which he won't, because Gretzky and Barnett are really good friends. The stink of cronyism is in the air, and now that Jeremy Roenick is in the doghouse and Georges Laraque has been sent packing, all this talk of a bright future rings mighty hollow.
"I feel bad for ownership, for the fan base, for everyone that had high expectations," Barnett said. "But in the same sense, we think if you look throughout the roster, a lot of very important pieces are in place."
Ah, but there's a huge credibility problem standing in their path. After all, this group also touted the free-agent signings of Tony Amonte, Sean O'Donnell and Petr Nedved. While the rest of the NHL focused on youth and speed, this group brought in Brett Hull, Mike Ricci and Roenick.
Either these cold-weather creatures come here and suddenly go soft in the sun or the front office whiffed badly. Meanwhile, from 1996-2004, the scouting department did little to help the organization.
In that span, the Coyotes had 10 first-round picks, including the curious selection of Blake Wheeler, an 18-year-old tabbed with the fifth overall pick in 2004, even though most others had Wheeler going in the later rounds. Of all those players, only Daniel Briere and Fredrik Sjostrom have turned out to be NHL worthy.
And today, few things hurt worse than watching Briere shine in Buffalo, in the new rules NHL, while the player he was traded for (Chris Gratton) no longer is here.
"Where we've really suffered is in not having many of those top draft picks pan out," said Barnett, claiming that the scouting department has been overhauled and is changed for the better. "What happens then is, you don't have the push from below to make the players at the top feel pressure to perform. You don't have the players with the ability to come in and fill temporary holes when you sustain injuries at the top level. It really has a big effect on the big club.
"As for the Briere trade, it's easy to figure out which organization got the better of that single transaction. But Gratton was then parlayed in a subsequent deal for (Keith) Ballard and (Derek) Morris . . . so it's not all doom and gloom around here."
Maybe not, but at some point, the calls for patience and new beginnings begin to go down like warm cups of $8 beer, and the fans decide they have had enough.
For the Coyotes, that moment has arrived.
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Quote:
Yotes throw in the towel on another sad season
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Mar. 2, 2007 10:22 AM
It's quite sad what has happened to the Phoenix Coyotes. Once a contending team that was exciting on the ice and possessing some marquee players fans identified with, the Yotes have become a laughingstock. With the fire sale that saw them jettison Georges Laraque, Yanic Perreault and Oleg Saprykin a week after they traded Ladislav Nagy, the Coyotes have officially waived the white flag on another disappointing season.
The Coyotes are attempting to cut some losses on a season that is a financial disaster. A team source said that before the trades, the Coyotes were projected to lose about $30 million this season. Laraque sealed his fate during the Nashville game when he got into a nasty verbal confrontation with assistant coach Barry Smith on the bench. Laraque was not well liked or respected in the lockeroom but neither is Smith, who is over his head as a top assistant and has too much authority.
With financial losses mounting it may be difficult for Phoenix to be a big player in free agency. Last season it spent big on defenseman Ed Jovanovski, a move that clearly has not paid dividends, and took the lightning-in-the-bottle approach in signing Owen Nolan, Jeremy Roenick, Perreault and Laraque. The Coyotes may look to go young and keep the payroll at close to $30 million next season.
The Suns failed to complete the perfect road season against the Eastern Conference, dropping their final roadie to Philadelphia, but by giving Shawn Marion a day off it's easy to understand where Mike D'Antoni's thoughts are - and that is on the big picture of an NBA championship. There is no reason for Phoenix to try to chase Dallas for the best record in the NBA - it's not going to catch the Mavericks.
And it hardly matters. Both Dallas and Phoenix are quite capable of winning on the other's home court. Playing a Game 7 on the road may have affected teams like the Clippers and Lakers last year, but it won't faze the Suns. If any of the regulars need a day off to rest or to heal an injury, he will get it. Nash got all the time he needed to come back from his back injury, and the same is going on right now with Boris Diaw.
It's interesting to note that going into the 76ers game the Suns were 14-0 vs the East on the road, but three of those games nail-biters:
Game 17 - Phoenix beat New Jersey, 161-157, in double overtime as Steve Nash scored 42 points and had 13 assists. Nash hit a three-pointer at the end of regulation to force overtime and Boris Diaw's hook shot over Jason Kidd at the end of the second overtime won it. There were 34 lead changes and 21 ties in the game.
Game 30 - Phoenix beat Chicago, 97-96, when Leandro Barbosa hit a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left. Ben Gordon had hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds left to give the Bulls a 96-94 lead before Barbosa's heroics. Down 92-89, Diaw had hit a big three-pointer to tie the score.
Game 31 - Phoenix beat Toronto, 100-98. In a game it led at one point by 17, the Suns needed 13 points from Steve Nash in the fourth quarter to hold off the Raptors.
Some early thoughts from Tucson after the first game of spring training:
1) With most of the veterans who are set in their ways now playing elsewhere, the Diamondbacks are attempting to mold the youngsters into a team that shows patience at the plate. That was evidenced by the eight walks the team drew against the White Sox Thurdsday.
2) Connor Jackson threw away a potential double-play grounder when he fielded a ball at first base and made an errant throw to second. Jackson is a converted outfielder and needs more work on that one specific play. The Diamondbacks did look shaky on defense as Jackson made an error, Orlando Hudson bobbled a few grounders and made an error, and Stephen Drew had the ball come out of his glove trying to finish a double play.
3) Catcher Miguel Monterro is a vocal leader behind the plate and will push Chris Snyder this season for the starting job.
John Gambadoro is freelance columnist who writes for azcentral.com. Reach Gambo at jgambadoro@cox.net
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Last edited by Only The Lonely..; Mar 6, 2007 at 3:21 AM.
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