Former Coyote Tyson Nash, who played last season in Japan of all places, has rejoined the Coyotes organization as a color-analyst on radio broadcasts.  Nash, a fan favorite in Phoenix, replaces Louis DeBrusk who took a job as a TV color analyst for the Edmonton Oilers.  DeBrusk was an entertaining color man and as I found out when I had a chance to speak with him this summer at Coyotes Youth Clinic at Polar Ice Chandler, a very personable man away from the mic.

This will be Nash’s first job as an analyst but expectations are he will be a fine replacement for DeBrusk.  Smokie Rivers, Director of Programming for Clear Channel/Phoenix had this to say about Nash:

“He is knowledgeable about hockey, likable, and flamboyant…”

While that makes Nash sound more like a Las Vegas drag performer than a hockey analyst, I have to agree that Tyson Nash brings a decidedly different flavor to the radio broadcast than DeBrusk’s working-class everyman.  It may take a little while for Nash to find his footing but once he settles in with play-by-play man Bob Heethuis (a true pro) I think Tyson Nash will be a good fit for Coyote broadcasts.

Most of the girls on the team seemed fairly nice but they always struck me as a poor man’s Sun Dancers or Laker Girls.  Some of them may be back, along I presume with male counterparts, as part of the new “Pack Entertainment Team” whose main job will be to hand out give-away items to fans (ie T-Shirt cannon, water bottles, tickets to “So You Think You Can Dance?  LIVE!” and the like.  Feel like you have what it takes to join the PET’s?  Then click here and get all the info for tryouts.

Meet Jokinen, Doan & Mueller

The Coyotes will be holding an open house on August 9th from 1 to 4 pm so fans can ostensibly meet fan favorites Shane Doan and Peter Mueller along with their newly acquire #1 center Ollie Jokinen.  While the trio will be there to sign autographs and pose for pictures the real reason for the meet & greet is that Partial Plans will be on sale for the first time where fans can buy an eleven-pack of whatever games they want or choose from a variety of 5-game plans.  If you cannot go season ticket then the 11 game plan sounds like a good deal.  You get Opening Night plus 10 other games.  No doubt that games against Pittsburgh, Washington and Buffalo will be big draws as will the Red Wing games so this is a chance to lock those tickets in before they go on sale to the public and fans of those teams.

The Phoenix Coyotes released their 2008-09 schedule today and have thereby began to whet the appetites of valley hockey fans.  The home opener is October 11th with the Coyotes welcoming the Columbus Blue Jackets to town.  Later that month fans will get to see, arguable, the two biggest names in the NHL when Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby both visit Jobing.com Arena (on Oct. 23rd & 30th respectively).  Too bad they could not have gotten them for Saturday games but since Thursdays are traditionally a tougher draw for fans this might be the cure (for those two weeks anyway).

Other notable dates include a 2 pm matinee on November 28th (the Friday following Thanksgiving) and an 8 pm game on Valentines Day against the Flames.   Thursday, January 8th should be an interesting game as Radim Vrbata and the suddenly loaded Tampa Bay Lightning come to town.  The new format has the Coyotes playing each of their Pacific Division rivals 6 times each (3 home, 3 away), the remainder of the Western Conference teams four times each (2 home, 2 away) and then they get at least one game each against each of the Eastern Conference teams.   The Coyotes then get 3 “at large” games which will be played against Eastern teams which gives Phoenix a “home-and-home” series against the Sabres, Hurricanes and Islanders.

Discount Defense Might be Steal of Offseason

The Coyotes have rebuilt their defensive corps which were shredded with the trade of Keith Ballard and Nick Boyton to Florida for Ollie Jokinen.  Many thought GM Don Maloney would rebuild by signing some big-name free-agents while others thought the deep draft for defenseman would be a logical rebuilding point.  But in fact neither was right.   Maloney used his top draft picks to add to the Coyotes growing offensive arsenal when he selected Mikael Boedker and Viktor Tikhonov in the first round.  He did pick-up some D-men later in the draft but they are not expected to be ready for NHL action for a number of years.  Using the philosophy that most NHL defenseman hit their prime somewhere between ages 25 - 30, Maloney targeted players in that range who had not yet had a “breakout” year but still demonstrated solid defensive ability.   The first player they signed was Kurt Sauer, a big 6′ 4″, 220 lb defenseman who played last season for Avalanche.  Their next move was to ink David Hale, another player with talent who has yet to make a name for himself.  Sauer should be an ideal partner for Ed Jovanovski who needs a line-mate to cover his back as he jumps into plays and fires shots.  Last season that job fell primarily to Zybnek Michalek whose scoring fell-off last season.  A stay-at-home defender paired with Michalek will allow Z to regain his scoring touch and give the Coyotes two defensive pairing that can score significant points.

Chris Hoeler (A great name for a Coyotes blogger) at Bleacher Report has been posting some excellent articles and this week takes a look at the new-look Coyotes defense.  He cites another article by Danny Tolensky on hockeybuzz.com that compares the Sauer signing to a big deal that Toronto gave another Colorado defender, Jeff Finger.  The Maple Leafs gave Finger a four-year deal for $14 million while telling their fans that Finger was the Av’s key “shut-down” defender who played the majority of minutes against top Western Conference forwards like Joe Thornton, Jerome Iginlaz and the Sedin twins.  But in fact it was Sauer, who the Coyotes signed to a 4 year $7 million deal, that played the majority of minutes against those players.  Don Maloney is looking like a genius while the Maple Leafs look like chumps.

We won’t be able to really judge the Coyotes defense for a few months but at first glance it appears they have been able to shore things up if not actually replace Ballard & Boynton.  The question becomes whether or not the added offense provided by Jokinen combined with more scoring from Michalek & Jovo will be enough to overcome the loss of experience on defense.   One thing is certain, this team is going to score more goals and the games should be fast-moving and fun to watch.

The 26-year-old Hale is in a similar mold to Kurt Sauer, signed by the Coyotes earlier in the week.  Hale is a former first round draft pick (22nd overall by New Jersey in 2000).  He was traded in February to Calgary along with a 5th round pick to obtain Calgary’s third round pick in this year’s draft.  In four seasons Hale has no goals and 11 assists.

Nothing to get too excited about.  Hale is young for a defenseman and no-doubt Maloney is betting on his continued development.  I still expect the Coyotes to sign another D-man before the season starts because if Hale and Sauer are it then we are going to be counting on a number of guys to have career years in order to replace Ballard & Boynton.  That or Ilya Bryzgalov better keep his head on a swivel because the shots will be coming fast and furious next season.

Sauer is a big (220 lb, 6′ 4″) stay-at-home defender who plays a smart positional brand (read:  Gretzky) of hockey.  He is not overwhelmingly fast but will become one of Ilya Bryzgalov’s best friends with his puck-clearing abilities.  Most notable in his 2007-08 stats was a +/- of +17 (career high).  Sauer’s size will help add some bite to the Coyotes defense though some have commented that he does not hit as much as you might expect from a player his size.  Said GM Don Maloney:   “We see him as someone who can match up against top forwards and handle a lot of ice time.”  Sauer was second on the Av’s in ice time, averaging 19:22 per game while notching 1 goal and 5 assists in 54 regular season games last season.

It is no shock the Coyotes went after a defenseman and knowing Don Maloney, no shock they went for more of a value player like Sauer who earned $719,000 last season.  The 27 year-old Sauer is just entering his prime and has upside but he is closer to a replacement for Nick Boynton than Keith Ballard.   I hope there is a bigger fish yet to be landed.

Fedoruk is another big player (6′2″, 240 lb) who will help fill-out the Coyotes checking line.  Last season he recorded 6 goals and 7 assists.

“Olli is a great player, but he has shown no leadership or improvement, and he never came through for us when we needed him the most. As a stat, Jokinen scored 5 goals in the last 24 games, this is not acceptable for a Captain of an NHL organization. He played with little heart or passion and never had the determination to reach the playoffs. This move was done for one reason only, to make the postseason and return the passion and energy into this arena.”

Panther management was quick to distance themselves from the brewing scandal, with Florida’s chief executive officer Michael Yormark describing the letter as “not the kind of communication we condone and is unacceptable”. Of course Yormark failed to call the comments untrue or to apologize to the former Panthers’ captain. Yormark simply told the Herald that “we’ve addressed the issue with the individual. Not only with the individual, but with the entire staff. I can assure you this is not the kind of communication you will see in the future”. So a slap on the wrist but probably only because they got caught.

You have to remember that this was written by a Panthers’ account executive who was trying to appease fans upset by the trade. But it is highly unlikely that this letter went out without the knowledge of some higher-ups in the organization. It is telling of the type of dysfunction within the Florida organization when the person who wrote the letter was not immediately fired and an apology issued to Jokinen. To call out someone’s character is perhaps the most damaging thing you can say about a professional athlete. When someone is your teams leading all-time scorer and you lambaste them like that you are showing an incredible lack of character yourself. Why not just say ‘thanks for your contributions but we believe it is in everybody’s best interest, including Olli’s, that we move in a different direction at this time’?

It should also give pause to teams who might be thinking of making trades with the Panthers in the future. What does it tell Coyotes season ticket holders about the job GM Don Maloney is doing if the Panthers are bragging to their people about how they got over on Phoenix by shipping them a choking player who lacks heart for a fan favorite like Keith Ballard? It certainly will not help sell tickets at Jobing.com Arena — already a tough gig.

Obviously we will have to wait six to nine months to really put a value on the trade but face value right now says the Coyotes flat-out stole Jokinen. The Panthers management did such a bad job with their star player that he wanted out and it made them look bad so they have to take this blatantly biased tack to their ticket base. I come from sales so I know for a fact what scumbags sales people can be but this is a low-water mark in professional sports marketing. While the Coyotes are improving their team with swift aplomb the Panthers remain a wreck of a team, overloaded with defensemen with no inkling of an offense on the horizon. Good luck selling boring defensive hockey — worse — boring defensive losing hockey to south Florida where there are only 5,000 other things people could be doing in the winter. It is that reality that caused the Panthers’ to use Jokinen as a scapegoat.

When asked for a response to the letter Jokinen text-messaged his reply to the Herald:

“Of course I’m disappointed if somebody has said that, I honestly tried my best in all areas, whether it was on ice or outside the rink.”

Hopefully Ollie will take that letter as a personal challenge and use it to help fuel him to a career best year that returns the Coyotes —at long last— to the post-season.

With last Friday’s trade of Nick Boynton the Coyotes had lost their “backup” enforcer after Daniel Carcillo so the acquisition of the moutainesque  McGrattan fills a hole for Phoenix.  The price was right and McGrattan will give other teams pause to mess with our speedy forwards, in particular center Kyle Turris and newly drafted Mikkel Boedker and Viktor Tikhonov.

“We thought with the youth of our team going forward we needed someone of Brian’s talents,”  — Coyotes GM Don Maloney on the acquisition of tough guy Brian McGrattan

McGrattan’s role should be clearly defined since he is not blessed with particular skating or scoring ability.  He did break the AHL single-season penalty record by notching 551 PIM during the 2004-05 season.  So look to see a lot of McGrattan this season with his gloves thrown to the ice and his fists pummeling some unlucky Coyote opponent.  This will allow Carcillo, who had 13 goals last season, to reduce his PIM which stood at a stout 314 last season, and work more on developing his skills as a scorer.

McGrattan’s fate in Ottawa was sealed after GM Bryan Murray informed him that he would not be brought back next season.  The reason given, according to a report in the Calgary Herald, was collateral damage related to the dismissal of volatile goalie Ray Emery.  McGrattan was Emery’s best friend so in the interest of a clean-break, Murray decided to offer McGrattan the minimum salary required in order to retain his rights as a restricted free agent and then trade him for whatever he could get.  That, as it turns out, was a fifth round pick.

The 20-year-old Tikhonov was draft eligible the past two seasons but no one selected him.  But this past season Tikhonov came into his own at the World Junior Championships where he was lauded as the tournament’s “Best Forward” and Central Scouting Bureau rated him as the 8th best European prospect.  But the Coyotes scouts apparently thought highly enough of Tikhonov to take the pick they were awarded as compensation for losing Blake Wheeler along with the 39th pick in the second round and trade them for the right to draft talented Russian.

Based on his age and the tremendous progress he made with his game the last two seasons it is expected that Tikhonov could compete for a spot this season on the Coyotes roster.  Tikhonov attributes the improvement in his game to improved skating and the experience of playing in the Russian Super League.  Tikhonov’s status in Russia can best be compared to being a restricted free agent in the NHL.  So long as he signs with an NHL team he will be released from that obligation.  Tikhonov sites playing in the NHL as quickly as possible as one of his goals and his roots in the US should help make the transition easier.  Tikhonov lived in California for awhile as a child citing the Santa Clara Blackhawks as his first team.  Tikhonov even has a girlfriend in California which should make signing him an easy matter for Phoenix.  While Tikhonov dreams of playing in the NHL he was quoted as saying “I want to play in the National Hockey League. If not this year, the year after. For me it would be okay to play on the farm team for one season.”  As for his ultimate goal, Tikhonov said “I dream of winning the Stanley Cup and having a happy family.”  Sounds good to me.

“We’re really thrilled,” said Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney. “For us to be able to come up with a No. 1 center, an all-star, a big body to go against (Joe) Thornton and the bigger centers in our division and conference, I just think we got better.

“Obviously, we gave up Keith Ballard, who’s a good young player, and Nick Boynton, a solid defenseman, but we just thought this was too good a player to pass up, and now the work’s gonna be to get more defensive prospects.”

Jokinen had been at odds with Florida GM Jacques Martin who, while coaching the team last season, called out his All-Star center on several occasions.  The rift proved to be unrepairable and Jokinen asked to be traded this off-season.  By forcing the Panthers to trade him Jokinen undermined their ability to maximize what they could get in return as other teams worried about Jokinen doing the same thing to them.  But Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky seemed to have no such worries and appeared very happy to have added Jokinen to his arsenal for 2008-09 when he was interviewed during the NHL draft.  For their part, Florida fans seemed incensed over the trade, ridiculing Martin and loathing the defensemen they had just traded for.  A sampling of the posts from the Florida Sun-Sentinel web site that followed a report on the trade:

 Are you serious? 2 defenseman and a draft pick that will spend 5 years in the minors? This franchise is freakin cursed. I guess we like scoring 1 goal every game.

Can you say “Taken to the cleaners?” or how about this one, “Bendover and touch your toes”. Jacques you suck.

It’s going to more fun going to Ice Zone to watch the kids play…at least I’ll be saving gas money…and beer money…and popcorn money….and ticket money…..and seeing hockey better than at the big joint….no brainer

At the other extreme were the Coyotes’ fans posting at the Arizona Republic.  A sampling:

 What I love about this trade is it gives Phoenix, for the first time since Roenick (The first time around), a legitimate super star center who can score and crash the boards who is in his PRIME!!!!!!

What a great trade, get a 90-point scorer for two middle of the road defenders and one of the second round picks. I’m guessing the yotes will go after a D man in FA, otherwise we’ll be thin at a position they weren’t all that great at last year. Thank you Maloney! ……..doanerfan - that Doan-Jokinen-Turris line makes my pants tight.

 You know….this is really exciting! This is going to be a fun hockey winter

DO YOU GUYS REALIZE WHERE THIS PLACES THE COYOTES?     IT PLACES US AS A FORMIDABLE OFFENSIVE TEAM. 

And the comments went on and on in much the same respect.  There is definitely some hand-wringing going on among some Coyote fans regarding the loss of two D-men from last year’s team but the hope to see an elite scoring team eclipses those worries in most rationale fans.  Keep in mind this not the end of the road by any stretch.  Free agency begins July 1st and the Coyotes figure to be busy looking for some defensive help.  Given the high level of talent on the offensive end of the ice some FA’s will likely look favorably on moving to Phoenix.  Right now the Coyotes still have veterans Ed Jovenovski and Derek Morris as their top two D-men followed by Gretzky favorite Zybenek Michalek and the raw Keith Yandle.    That is not nearly enough and while the trade is a no-brainer win for the Coyotes right now, it could become a slam-dunk, home-run of an off-season should Phoenix be able to sign a quality defenseman that exceeds what either Ballard or Boynton could have contributed this season.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile at the Draft

Oh yeah, there was an NHL draft going on too.  The Coyotes had just one pick in the first round but it was a quality one at number eight overall.  All week the Coyotes had indicated they were interested in drafting a defenseman.  Then came the trade of two of their D-men from last season, further fueling speculation they would seek a defenseman.  But with the top four defensive prospects off the board the Coyotes decided to take the third best forward in the draft in left-wing Mikkel Boedker.  A product of Denmark, Boedker possesses blazing speed and a nice scoring touch.  According to the analysts on Versus it was the player that many had thought Gretzky was targeting all along.  Gretzky did not confirm that he had wanted Boedker all along but he did seem pleased to have landed the 5′11″, 195 lb winger.

Was this the right move?  Absolutely.  The only defenseman left from the “big 5″ projected studs was 6′7″ Tyler Myers who was described by some draft observers as more of a “project” which is exactly what the Coyotes don’t need at the moment.  They need D-men who can step-in immediately and those will be found in free-agency.  Boedker should be able to make the team this season and could form an explosive second scoring line with Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal.  That will leave a top line of Doan, Turris and Jokinen which would give opponents defensemen fits trying to contain.

Depending on what Don Maloney can accomplish with the rest of this draft and during free-agency the Coyotes could now be on the fast-track to the post-season.

Republic columnist Jim Gintonio figures that the top five defenseman will likely go prior to the Coyotes selection at #8 likely leaving Tyler Myers and Luke Schenn available to the ‘Yotes with Schenn more likely to be able to make the jump to the NHL right now.  It is always dangerous to try and predict what any team will do much less the seven in front of the Coyotes.  The one sure is that Steven Stamkos will go first to Tampa.  After that a pool of quality defensemen including American Zach Bogosian, Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo are expected to be picked quickly.  Should any of those three slip to #8 then you can expect to see Coyotes’ GM Don Maloney sprinting to the podium with his pick.  However, if nobody on the Coyotes list of top defensemen is available then they could fool everyone and select a forward.  One intriguing name is that of Russian Nikita Filatov, a left wing who can play center with lightning quickness.  But since the NHL lacks a transfer agreement with Russia there are no guarantees that Filatov would even report to camp but Filatov has stated repeatedly that he will definitely play in North America next season.  Still, with the Blake Wheeler fiasco still fresh in their minds the Coyotes front office might not be so keen on taking a risk with their top pick.  Maloney was quoted in the East Valley Tribune as saying he would consider taking Filatov:

“He’s certainly a guy we’d have to look at and do our homework on,” Maloney said. “It’s hard to find that type of front-line talent in a draft.”

Certainly Filatov is a guy that could jump right into the NHL and being a left-winger would make him a nice fit on the Coyotes who are a bit over-stocked on right-wingers.  It is not unheard of for teams to say one thing and then go in a completely different direction.  Perhaps the Coyotes are talking up the defensemen in hopes that Filatov will be there at #8.  Another potential forward for the Coyotes is Danish skater Mikkel Boedker.

Personally, I think the Coyotes are truly committed to bringing in several quality defensemen including trying to land one of the big 5 if possible.    I think they will try and trade-up but would prefer to swap their pick plus a player or two they currently have.   One team who might be willing to trade out of their position is Columbus and many mock drafts have Schenn available in the Bluejackets number six slot.  Schenn is a shut-down type defenseman who could fulfill Maloney’s wish of having a starting defenseman on the team from this draft.  Given the depth of this draft teams might be more willing than usual to exchange a top pick for multiple picks, an option that is also open to the Coyotes.

The number 8 pick is a bit of a lousy number given their are four stud defensemen who could play in the NHL right now along with two stud forwards followed by the next tier.  Now don’t get me wrong, the next tier is pretty darn good too but it is definitely a step behind the first seven.   If the Coyotes stand pat then I would expect they would have to choose between defenseman Tyler Myers and forward Mikkel Boedker.  Myers is 6′7″ and has a lot of upside but virtually no one sees him as being able to play in the NHL next season.  Boedker could conceivably make the roster next season but outside of Stamkos (who will be going to Tampa) and Filatov, I don’t see any forward getting drafted and making an impact this season with the Coyotes.

Just for kicks, here is my prediction on the first ten picks of the first round:

1. Tampa Bay -  Steven Stamkos.   No brainer, best player in the draft.

2. Los Angeles - Drew Doughty.  Probably the biggest “can’t miss” of the four “can’t miss” D-Men.

3. Atlanta - Zach Bogosian.  Second biggest of the “can’t miss”…..

4. St. Louis - Alex Pietrangelo.  The least defensively talented of the big 4 but can score big time.

5. NY Islanders - Nikita Fiatov.  See above, dude will be a stud LW.

6. Columbus - Luke Schenn.  Last of the big 4 but the best talented defensively.

7. Toronto - Mikkel Boedker.  Leafs need offense and Boedker will fit the bill.

8. Phoenix - Tyler Myers.  Maybe he CAN start in the NHL with Phoenix.

9. Nashville - Cory Hodgson.  Speedy center and former teammate of Stamkos.

10. Vancouver - Kyle Beach.  This is another tricky pick as Beach could go as high as #5 or drop down into the bottom third of the first round because of a bad rep.  But reports are he interviewed well at the combine so look for the Canucks to snap him up if still available at #10.

In a few hours we will all know how it really panned out.