Phoenix Coyotes

Uphill Climb

August 19, 2011

For those of you who haven't looked at the Dallas Stars' schedule, the beginning of the season is approaching soon. Thing is, it's going to be a tough start for the new-look team.

The 2011-12 season begins within the confines of the American Airlines Center, but against the team that The Hockey News picked as the Western Conference finalist--the Chicago Blackhawks. Not only one game against the Hawks. Two. October 7 and 8, prepare yourself for a home-and-home with one of the strongest teams in the entire National Hockey League.

Not all is lost. Last season, the Stars romped over not just the Chicago Blackhawks, but the Central Di...

Top 10 must-see games on the 2011-12 Chicago Blackhawks schedule

August 1, 2011

Hockeybroad

0 Comments

As the days march on towards Opening Night, and the bulk of trades and free agency acquisitions have been completed; the Draft and prospect camps are over; and the opening of Training Camps are still a few weeks away; as the weeks left until the new season drop into the single digits, there's one date circled on every fan's calendar to make it through the August doldrums: the date that their team's tickets go on sale. The Chicago Blackhawks have plenty of exciting matchups to choose from this year.

Five years ago, getting 14,000 fans in the seats at the United Center would've been considered a special night. Now, after three h...

Can You Yandle This?

July 6, 2011

czechtacular

3 Comments

Rolaids might have to borrow a certain Phoenix defenseman if they want to bring back the old catchphrase.

How do you spell relief? Y-A-N-D-L-E.
The former CHL Defenseman of the Year, who finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting last season after leading all NHL defensemen in scoring right around his first (and likely not his last) All-Star Game appearance has signed on for five more years--yes, five--with the Coyotes, in a deal reportedly worth $26.25 million. Yandle was one of the main subjects of talks surrounding potential offer sheet targets. But, rather than pursuing any temptations of playing for a market with more exposure, he showed how much he believed in t...

Where can Phoenix go?

July 4, 2011

Chuck Gaston Jr

12 Comments

Hey guys, a good friend of mine had sent me a blog post that he thought would be a good discussion for The Checking Line. Victor creates some good argument points for why Phoenix can move into either Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington.

(Victor D’Alesio – Checking Line member and reader)

With all the fun and exciting news around the NHL this off-season, it is only fitting that someone projects where the Phoenix Coyotes will end up in the years to come. While most of the hockey world was busy following #jagrwatch (I was hoping it would be #strakawatch), I was thinking about where Phoenix should go. In doing a little bit of research, I came up with a ...

Three new players welcomed to pack

July 2, 2011

czechtacular

1 Comment

The Phoenix Coyotes added some grit, depth and goaltending on Friday to begin their plunge into the free agency market, also bringing back a familiar face. Raffi Torres (2 years, $3.5M), Boyd Gordon (2 years, $2.65M) and Mike Smith (2 years, $4M) were all signed to contracts, while Radim Vrbata re-signed with the club in a three-year, $9 million deal of his own.

Welcome (back, for one)! In the opposite vein, defenseman Ed Jovanovski left for Florida, veteran centreman Eric Belanger found a new home with the Oilers and Vernon Fiddler became a Star.

Oh.

Torres was last seen in the not-so-distant past. The Stanley Cup finalist appe...

'Yotes end draft with local flavour

June 27, 2011

czechtacular

0 Comments

Scottsdale native Zac Larraza was selected by the team he idolized this weekend, in the 7th round, 196th overall.
Photo: phoenixcoyotes.com

Six forwards and two defensemen were added to the pack on draft weekend, beginning with blueliner Connor Murphy, picked 20th overall. The 6 foot 3 native of Dublin, Ohio will play for Miami University in fall 2011 after having played only 14 games this year for the American Under-18 team due to injury, recording six points. Previous to that, he went 7-11-18 when he laced up for 35 games with the Columbus Jr. Blue Jackets. His father Gord is an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers, having played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston...

Hit the 'Reset' Button

May 11, 2011

czechtacular

1 Comment

They're staying. Yes, that's really all you need to know, isn't it? Let the heads shake and the tongues roll but it's not going to get anyone very far. At least not this year. While Coyotes' fans do get to heave a sigh of relief, let it be known that they're also feeling the bitterness of seemingly everyone else in the league, but in a different manner. Not only because they've endured this real-life version of snakes and ladders for two years, but because they're right back at square one. Photo: phoenixcoyotes.com The Glendale City Council agreed 5-2 late Tuesday to pay the National Hockey League up to an additional $25 million so the Phoenix Coyotes could stay another year...

The...end?

April 22, 2011

czechtacular

8 Comments

So I get to do the first big post-mortem of this 2010-11 season. Needless to say, it's not something that makes me very happy or that I was very much looking forward to. In fact, I'd probably rather put my head in a vat of eels. But I was saved from detailing the more unpleasant, heartwrenching thoughts brought on by the outcome of this series by my colleague here at TCL, Jordan Kuhns. No one knows what's going to happen now, and that thought is potentially more devastating than how the series ended. This was supposed to be the chance at revenge, it was supposed to be the exclamation point on the breakthroughs of last season, it was supposed to be the year people would stop asking who...

Coyote Ugly

April 21, 2011

Jordan Kuhns

1 Comment

PHOTO CREDIT: AP Such a shame. Just such a huge shame. The Phoenix Coyotes needed this series to be a rallying point. They needed it to gain favorable opinion, and they needed it big time. Ever since the team moved to Phoenix, the team and its ownership have lost considerable amounts of money. There were years that the "Desert Dogs" were completely forgotten about. The team was located in a bad spot from the very beginning, not to mention tooled with very average players. The only real glory years they could look back to were their beginnings in the late 90s. The team gained tons of popular support. Plenty of fans came out to take part in the White Out. They were Phoenix f...

Déjà vu, or welcome revenge?

April 11, 2011

czechtacular

2 Comments

While the outcomes of just about every Stanley Cup playoff series were decided in nail-biting, nervous-wreck fashion on Sunday, a rematch of last year's best-of-seven first round series opposing the Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes seemed imminent--and somewhat logical, in all the madness--for this year's Western Conference quarterfinals. The Coyotes got 4 out of a possible 8 points in their April contests after having gone 9-4-1-0 in March. The Red Wings had also split their contests this month before the grand, nationally televised finale against the Chicago Blackhawks that saw them hold on for a 4-3 final. With all the kerfuffle boiling over during the past two days, the f...