2010-11 NHL Season Preview: Phoenix Coyotes

The messiest ownership situation in sports allowed the Phoenix Coyotes to succeed last season. For the Coyotes players, all of their focus was on the ice each and every night. That made a world of difference for a team who had struggled outside the playoffs for the better part of a decade. Now the question is: can the Phoenix Coyotes once again impress?

Few Changes
Thanks to the success from last year, the Phoenix Coyotes had no trouble keeping the bulk of their roster. That is fantastic news, as the Coyotes have traditionally had a fairly high turnover rate.

Unfortunately, nearly every change for the Coyotes came at center. Matthew Lombardi, Robert Lang and Daniel Winnik are all gone. Only Andrew Ebbett was brought in to fill the holes. Phoenix will instead try to rely on Martin Hanzal, Vern Fiddler and Petteri Nokelainen, or another forward playing out of position, to fill the role.

Even though they have a plethora of wingers on the roster, the Phoenix Coyotes decided to sign free agent left winger Ray Whitney. While there is no doubt that Whitney will provide an additional scoring punch, he does not address the issue that the Coyotes need to fix.

On defense, Zbynek Michalek, Mathieu Schneider and Jim Vandermeer have all left. Schneider is not much of a factor, as he only played eight regular season games with the Coyotes last season. Michalek, though, was a big body and excellent shot blocker who the Coyotes will miss.

The defense is still strong, which is great news. Head coach Dave Tippett has a defensive system, which is how the Phoenix Coyotes won most of their games in the 2009-10 NHL season. Helping matters is starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov - a Vezina Trophy nominee from last year - who will once again be one of the most unbeatable net minders.

More Success
The lack of centermen could pose a problem, but the Phoenix Coyotes still have enough talented wingers that scoring should not be an issue. Considering the team's focus will be on defense, it would come as no surprise if the Coyotes' games were 1-0 or 2-1 types, with goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov stealing a few.

The most underrated part of the Phoenix Coyotes is probably their leadership. Shane Doan, despite playing on a sub par team for most of his career, is truly one of the best leaders in the NHL. Ed Jovanovski, too, is a natural leader in his own right, as is Ray Whitney.

It will be another good year for the Phoenix Coyotes, though not as good as last season. The playoff experienced earned in the 2010 NHL playoffs should prove invaluable, and a deeper run into the playoffs would not be out of the question in 2011.

Predicted Standings
Pacific Division: 2^nd
Western Conference: 6^th
NHL: 11^th

Depth Chart

Forwards
Wojtek Wolski - Martin Hanzal - Shane Doan
Ray Whitney - Vern Fiddler - Lee Stempniak
Taylor Pyatt - Petteri Nokelainen - Radim Vrbata
Petr Prucha - Andrew Ebbett - Scottie Upshall
Lauri Korpikoski - Viktor Tikhonov - Paul Bissonnette

Defense
Ed Jovanovski - Derek Morris
Adrian Audoin - Keith Yandle
Kurt Sauer - Sami Lepisto
David Schlemko

Goaltenders
Ilya Bryzgalov
Jason LaBarbera

Sources

http://www.nhl.com
http://www.tsn.ca
http://www.espn.com
http://www.hockeydb.com
http://www.nhlnumbers.com