One Fan's Perspective

During the pre-game show of FSN Arizona Monday night, my wife and I became sort of nostalgic.  The Coyotes faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, and we followed that team closely.  When we lived in Florida, we saw every game, for better and for worse, and when it became better, the results were awesome.

In 2003, we saw the Lightning survive the first round of the playoffs and move on, only to get eliminated in the second.  In 2004, they won the Stanley Cup.  In 2004-2005, there was a work stoppage and we arrived in Arizona during the summer of 2005 to adopt the home team as our own.  We still kept tabs on the crew out East, and learned through painful experience that after that Cup run, they became a shell of its former self.

The connections between the two clubs were somewhat tangential.  Former Coyotes assistant coach John Tortorella was the head coach of the Lightning and turned that ship right around, and the goaltender of record for both playoff runs (inluding the Cup run of 2004) was Nikolai Khabibulin.

As expected, after winning the Stanley Cup, his contract was up and he wanted a pay raise.  Unfortunately, he had competition between three young players and a savvy defenseman (Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Danny Boyle respectively).

Now, the Bolts are not the same club.  It seems that Steven Stamkos is the goal scorer and Lecavalier and St. Louis are struggling to put the puck in the net.  Welcome to aging boys, it’s hell, eh?

Believe it or not, as fun as it is to wax nostaligic over times gone by, the purpose of today’s thought processes are truly not related to the Lightning.  Rather, it’s the goalter Khabibulin.

When Khabibulin went to the Lightning, his preparation routine was coffee and cigarrettes before the game.  Someone over there (Jeff Reese perhaps) drilled some sense into the often quizzical netminder to get healthy or get prepared to be shipped out.  He had a bad stretch of games during his Cup run, but got it together at the right time.

Now, after leaving the goaltending carousel in Chicago, he finds himself in Edmonton, playing with the Oilers franchise with an incredible history.  He might have been one answer for their aspirations for another visit in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Plus, it would have been pretty cool to see him play yet again against the club he shared the goaltending load with many seasons ago.

Unfortunately, it may not happen.  It looks like Khabibulin has back issues…and is day-to-day missing his start against the Blackhawks on Sunday.

The Desert Dogs are 13 – 9 -1 and the Oilers are 9 – 11 – 3; I bet most of the world would have thought those records would be reversed with the Coyotes taking more of the worst of it.  Hopefully, they will continue their hard work and good fortune continues for them with their own Battle of Alberta.

If you are looking for some pre-game material, this is what I’ve read today:

Tags: Edmonton Oilers, Hockey, John Tortorella, NHL, Nikolai Khabibulin, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning by pbcoyotes
1 Comment »

The show on FSN Arizona tonight discussed when we became hockey fans.  It also featured the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that was in the basement for many years only to rise up in 2003-2004 and win the Stanley Cup.  Seeing that happen brought back many cool memories of a winter to spring to summer that I’ll never forget.

These events inspired me and I’ll update later.

Tags: FSN Arizona, Hockey, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning by pbcoyotes
No Comments »

When the Phoenix Coyotes stated that they do not plan to spend big during the ongoing Unrestricted Free Agent market, they held true to their word. They wanted to take the patient approach and build their franchise the right way by concentrating on player development.

Because if one looks at the current Stanley Cup Champions, save for a couple of key acquisitions (Pronger, Niedermayer) and two quality goaltenders (Bryzgalof, Giguere), most of their team was built from within with players not even close to anyone’s radar. The lack of top tier “star” players forced the Ducks to play with each other and rely on each other to win – there could not be passengers on the road to the championship because they couldn’t afford it.

Therefore, when Pronger made stupid decisions that caused his suspensions during the playoffs, the team had the experience to work through the challenges. Of course, having the stability of Niedermayer also on the back line helped, but there was no panic.

They didn’t need to.

Unlike the Tampa Bay Lightning where the top three (St. Louis, Richards, Lecavalier) commands almost 50% of the salary cap, they played the most minutes, and when others needed to emerge, those players couldn’t because they did not have the experience to do so.

Ruslan Fedotenko, the hero in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, went out with a whimper and so did the Lightning. If the team had players who could operate in clutch situations, their playoff experience this year could have been different. Plus, they would have players that could endure the grueling overtime periods because clearly the Lightning ran out gas.

Therefore teams with a clear lack of balance and chemistry, even though they have players that had stellar years previously resulting now in those huge contracts, could run into the same situations. It’s a gamble and sometimes the best hands don’t hold up.

So, with the Coyotes surveying the landscape, they know what they have and buying that player that might make the impact right now is not necessary. Now, one has to consider our UFAs – they are all still here.

The Anaheim Ducks showed (and most likely will show next season) that it’s them versus everyone else. They played with a chip on their shoulder, unnecessarily pushed the edge of physical play, but always skated up against it. The message to everyone was clear – teams must go through us to beat us. They had something to prove.

It could be a message worth repeating.

Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Hockey, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Unrestricted Free Agents by pbcoyotes
No Comments »