One of the saddest days of my life...

Last night was the first two rounds of the NHL 2008 Entry Draft. It took place up in Ottawa while I was at the Coyotes draft party in Scottsdale. Hey Wayne, there was way more than 9-10 fans there! Our group alone was 9-10 people. But it was nice to hear a shout out from the Great One. *edit* I guess Gretzky actually said 910 am or something similar. He needs to work on his enunciation. That and we were all clapping and cheering for our team, so it was difficult to hear.

So before the draft even started a trade was announced. When I saw the first part of the trade, I was happy. We were all screaming and clapping. Then I noticed what we gave up and I was just in shock. We traded Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and I believe the 49th (or 39the) pick to Florida Panthers for Olli Jokinen.

Ok, so we got a great center. His stats from last year:
GP G A Pts +/- PIM GWG Shots
82 34 37 71 -19 67 5 341

Ok, so he has a lot of points and he shoots a lot. But what about that -19? That worries me a little bit as the Coyotes expect their offense to be defensive minded too. And what else worries me, now we only have 2.5 true NHL defensemen. (I count Jovo only as a half, as he is not the most defensive defenseman. He tends to have a lot of turnovers). We have DMo and Z. Then there is Jones and Yandle. No way in hell do I want those two on the team full time next year!

I keep going between emotions on this trade. I am not upset about Boynton, even though I like him. I am just so upset to see Ballard go. I will miss his hipchecks. I’m glad I got my pic and autograph. I will probably be upset again come training camp and preseason. We will be missing an important aspect of the team.

So, leading up to the draft Maloney talked a lot about we were going to draft defense. Instead we trade away two d and draft a forward with our 8th pick! Granted all that was left was Myers and no way in hell did we want him but what the hell. Are we just going to spend more time in the other team’s zone? Yah, we may score a lot more goals but with no defense, we are going to let the other team score a lot more!

Maloney better have something up his sleeve, either another trade or a big UFA defenseman signing. And it better not be Campbell. He did jack for the sharks this year. I am hoping for Orpik. The guy’s a checking machine. We will need at least two more defensemen though. We don’t have enough NHL ready defensemen in our closet! I don’t think Ross is ready, maybe the Swede, maybe Stephenson.

It looks like we drafted three d in the later rounds. They definitely won’t be NHL ready this year. They may never be NHL ready. We also took the last of the Staal brothers.

Random Stuff

The coyotes lost again saturday night. There were so many things that i would like to change about the team/play from the last couple of games. So here goes, my changes:

1) Stop passing across the ice. Pass up the ice. Ive been watching some games (rangers/flyers, caps/bruins) and what do the teams do? they have good passes up the ice which creates good scoring chances (8 of them so far for the caps, ok , make that 9)

2) Stop the dump and chase. Im sick of this move. the other team always beats us to the puck. and why are we doing this on the power play? we have an extra guy, we shouldnt have to dump and chase

3) Get in front of the net when you are in the other teams zone. The only player we have who has consistantly planted himself in front of the net is Carcillo. With him out on Saturday, i dont remember seeing anyone consistantly getting in there and looking for the rebound. They all stand around the perimeter and practice their passing. You can pass, we get it. Now shoot and get some freaking goals!

4) Dont stand behind your own net for what seems like hours. Settle the puck down and get out of there. Catch the other team doing their line change and take advantage.

Which leads me to 5) Make quicker line changes!!!! They seem so slow when switching lines. And the do it every 2 seconds it seems. Comparing the yotes line changes to any other team and our guys seem like they are skating in molases.

and 6) Be physical. Dont be afraid to hit or be hit. When they play physically, they seem to have a better game.

Now, this is all my opinion, obviously. I dont have anything factual to back this up, just my own observations and those of others i talk to and/or read.

I dont know what happend to Joel Perrault, but he looked just bad saturday night. He looked chicken shit all of a sudden. This is the same guy who was pushing Pronger, starting the scrum in San Jose. Im wondering if he got a little hurt Thursday night in Chicago. He took a couple really hard hits that game. If so, thats fine but then dont leave the puck just sitting there for Iginla to grab!

Jones made me remember why i wanted Yandle in the lineup. Hopefully Yandle got a good dose of reality as the scratch saturday night.

Lisin was recalled for emergency purposes. Besides Carcillo, York is injured. He got a hip pointer in Saturdays game. Im glad that York is out (not glad that hes hurt) I just havent been impressed with his play much. Im also glad Lisin will be given another chance. (trade chip for the future maybe? maybe to see if hes ready for the big club?) I say put him in the top 6 and move Hossa down to the bottom 6.

Hossa has pretty much been invisible for me in the games. I only notice him on the PK and maybe once or twice in full strength.

And can i just say boynton is one of my favorites purely because hes not afraid to speak his mind? I guess he called out some of his teammates (not by name) and just basically said some of them have, more or less, given up. I love that he is brutally honest. I get sick of all the players/coaches pussy-footing around. Tell me like it is. i just wish boynton wouldnt take some of his stupid penalties, but thats part of his character/game and i deal with it and move on.

Ok, well i think thats enough for now. I started off not having much to write and apparently i had quite a bit to say.

Coyotes 5, Dallas 2

So after the last crappy home games, the coyotes came out strong and beat the Stars 5 to 2. A well deserved win.

Vrbata got his 100th NHL goal. (and the game winner at that)

Boynton got an empty netter for his 3rd goal of the season.

The stars were going after Carcillo but he just held his ground. He didnt go off, he didnt fight, he just skated away. Even when he got a call for elbowing (i didnt see where that was elbowing) he just skated over to the box and sat down. Lets just hope he keeps this up.

Overall I thought all the guys played well. Shane Doan was back. Also, it was disclosed that he was playing with a broken hand for the month of January. The month that he was also the leading scorer in the NHL. Wow. Thats pretty amazing.

One of the other blogs I read posted this article on Ryan Suter: http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/story.php?left_nav=0802&article=suter0802&right_nav=normal

It was a good article. Suter seems like a very down to earth, nice guy. That seems to be the norm among hockey players. Im not going to lie, I wouldnt mind trading Jovocough for Suter.

Tonight we play LA Kings. So far we are 4-0 in the series with them. But we shouldnt take that for granted, they have had a recent surge. They beat Detroit not too long ago.

Ok, well I am going to tnoghts game and also recording it. They are doing a behind the scenes type thing that I think will be interesting to see.