Arizona Coyotes 2.0: Not Much Different Than Original Version
The Arizona Coyotes are only one game away from going completely winless on the longest road trip of the season.
Arizona Coyotes fans watched the sixth game of the season slip away and saw the franchise achieve a new status.
That’s right, this is Arizona Coyotes 2.0.
No more slogans. No more excuses. No more…winning?
The Coyotes are officially off to their worst start ever.
Is it too late to ask the organization for a season ticket refund? Isn’t there an early termination clause, like if the team doesn’t provide any entertainment whatsoever after opening night?
Fans are having a genuine freak-out and if this doesn’t turn around soon someone is going to lose their job.
In the first six games I’ve seen no consistency in line combinations, no consistency in the lineups, and no consistency in the play.
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Is this like the movie Major League, where the owner purposely tries to field a losing team to move it to another city? Does that mean someone on the roster is Willie Mays Hayes?
This is now no laughing matter.
General Manager John Chayka upgraded the team, and yet everything is going exactly as it did last season.
Perhaps the problem is not just the players.
Year after year we assemble a team, and watch them disappoint. Yet everyone always marvels at how Head Coach Dave Tippett makes something out of nothing.
This year we assembled a roster filled with much more talent, and far more potential. Perhaps Tippett needs to re-evaluate how he is coaching this team.
Maybe, just maybe, Tippett is the one that needs to adapt and make some changes.
We all like him. I really like him. But this isn’t a popularity contest.
This is the NHL.
If the team doesn’t bounce back soon, and the Coyotes have only one or two wins in their first ten games, Chayka is going to be faced with a dilemma.
He can take the heat. Or, he can pin it on someone else.
Either way, I think we can effectively call Coyotes 2.0 a flop. The loss to the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night was a bridge too far.
It’s time to jump ahead to Coyotes 3.0.
That means pulling off a big trade for a new goaltender that stops both the easy shots and the hard ones.
I don’t care if Mike Smith is popular with the team and with fans. He’s not going to take us to the playoffs, or apparently stay healthy. He’s had a good run, and he’s certainly made lots of money.
King Louis can be our backup going forward.
That also means shedding some of this rookie talent, and perhaps some others, in order to land a couple of proven players.
This list should include, well…almost anybody that isn’t a core player or considered to be an integral part of the team’s future.
And send some of these rookies back down to the AHL or juniors. I honestly don’t care which ones.
They’re all about the same, except for Jakob Chychrun, who is playing better than most of the team.
Just do something.
Because I’m tired of our team being the Galaxy Note 7 of hockey.
You know, they don’t even let people bring those on airplanes anymore…
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