Arizona Coyotes: Speedy Team North America Built Like Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes team roster will likely be comprised of a greater portion of younger talent than in years’ past. I feel much better about that after watching Team North America’s young stars dismantle Team Europe.
The Arizona Coyotes training camp is set to begin shortly, and a larger number of players than ever before who have little-to-no NHL experience will be a part of the activities.
Several rookies are expected to make the team this year, adding to an already young roster.
Typically, a very young and inexperienced team doesn’t translate to significant success with 82 games against well-oiled NHL stars.
But after watching the first World Cup tune-up game between Team North America and Team Europe, traditional thinking may need to be tossed out.
Team North America, comprised of wunderkind players 23 and under, took the ice against players with NHL experience. Going into it my thinking was that the North American team would impress, but it would take them a while to gel and begin working together efficiently.
It took about ten seconds.
Maybe less.
The entire game was an exercise in futility for Team Europe.
The young current and future NHL stars of Team North America skated circles, figure eights, and triple toe loops around Team Europe.
It wasn’t even close.
The score was 4 to 0. It could have been 10 to 0.
The zero that Team Europe put together was actually zero. Several shots on goal, but no real high-percentage opportunities and no consistent puck possession. Goalie Matt Murray could have eaten a sandwich during the game.
Lots of mistakes by Team Europe though.
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And mistakes will happen when you’re up against sheer speed and amazing skill.
Perfect examples were when Boston Bruins veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara, who looked every bit of 39-years-old, made key errors against Team North America.
He couldn’t keep up.
One error led to an easy goal, while the other enabled a penalty shot that also put one on the board for the North American team.
Bing. Bang. Boom.
It was like watching a game of pinball in fast-forward, and Team Europe seemed to go slower and slower.
Maybe it was Team North America going faster and faster.
This is what gives me such confidence, and hope, for the Arizona Coyotes this season.
Built with so many speedsters and puck handlers, who are young and unpredictable and filled with potential, they could blend together on the ice and become the perfect storm.
Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, Arizona’s Killer-D’s, proved this last season, and together energized the state of Arizona with spectacular feats of skill.
Add in a few more rookies after training camp to a roster tilted toward the under-24 crowd, and anything can happen. Speed will be the key though, and last night’s game was a blueprint for how the Coyotes will get it done.
Arizona Coyotes forward Tobias Rieder, still without a contract, was on the ice for Team Europe. But he wasn’t a big difference-maker.
Instead, it was Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, Johnny Gaudreau, Aaron Ekblad, Scottsdale-native Auston Matthews, and Brandon Saad lighting up the ice.
This was like an exhibition game to showcase future stars, and it didn’t disappoint. The future is indeed bright for the NHL.
Arizona Coyotes training camp may well be similar, an exhibition of young fast talent that will shape the team this season.
Last night’s game was a treat, and just knowing hockey’s back is a thrill.
Seeing what the Arizona Coyotes are building with a deep pool of talent, in what may well be Captain Shane Doan’s last year on the ice in Arizona, fills me with confidence that this year will be one for the ages.
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