Scary Things for Arizona Coyotes

Before reading this article, please consider donating to the Movember fund to help support men’s health! And if you’re up for it then grow that lip sweater out, fellas! Click here. Any little bit helps!

With Halloween fast approaching and almost ten games in the books for the Arizona Coyotes, let’s take a look at some scary things that should concern Coyotes players and fans.

Conor Timmins’ Day-to-Day Injury

Conor Timmins is currently day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The ambiguous “day-to-day” means that Timmins could be back next game or potentially in a few weeks. As the future of the Coyotes’ blueline, it is essential for Timmins to play games, gain experience, and grow as a young defenseman. Given the uncertainty of the day-to-day injury, his prior injuries, and how he will likely need time to re-find his game once he turns, this injury presents slight concerns at the moment.

Shots/GP

Arizona currently ranks last among all NHL teams in shots per game played with 23.2. For the team to win games, they have to get as many shots on the net as possible. No shot is a bad shot, especially because the puck can be funny and an odd, unusual bounce may somehow lead to a goal. Despite the argument on why shots on the net are important and how they can help teams win games, both of the Coyotes’ win came in games when they had 19 shots on the net. Regardless, shots on the net are still essential in helping a team remain competitive in games.

^{Shots per Games Played as of Oct 28th, 2022.}

Faceoff Win Percentage

The Coyotes are ranked 28^th among all teams in faceoff wins with 44.2%. As shown by some of the strong teams, thus far, like Washington, Detroit, and Philadelphia, having a lower faceoff win percentage than Arizona, this is not the most important metric. However, faceoff wins enable teams to gain possession which is invaluable for teams when they are in the offensive or defensive zone. Faceoff wins can create or prevent scoring chances; thus, this metric should not be overlooked.

^{Faceoff Wins Percentage as of October 28th, 2022.}

Vancouver Canucks

Prior to the start of the season, Arizona and Chicago were perceived as having the best odds of drafting Conor Bedard. Chicago is currently performing better than expected but the Vancouver Canucks are performing much worse than expected. Vancouver became the last NHL team to record a win as they finally found their first regulation win in their eighth game of the season last night. If Vancouver can’t find a way to turn things around, they may be competing with Arizona for the first overall pick in this year’s draft.

The sad part for Arizona and Vancouver fans is that the Canucks are trying to succeed. Vancouver has a talented line-up featuring JT Miller, Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvart, Conor Garland, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Thatcher Demko. However, locker room issues, distrust within the organization, and mismanagement from prior years have placed the Canucks in this horrific predicament.

Ticket Sales at Mullet Arena

In a September ESPN article, it was reported that the Coyotes are expected to sell out every home game at Mullet Arena. Emphasis on expectation because not all expectations come to fruition. Like I thought 2020 was going to be the best year of my life, but I spent half of it in quarantine and questioning my life because of COVID-19. Coyotes fans need to pray that the ticket sales projection comes true and all home games are sold out; otherwise, it gives hockey fans reason to argue for Arizona’s relocation.