Told ya we were gonna be doin this a little different. Some of the guests had a whole scenario all fleshed out, some just provided a basic outline. So, since the puck drops on out very first NHL regular game of 2008 tomorrow I figured I better blend this one up since Saturday will be our very first GDT of 2008.
HatTrickHound Reports from the soon-to-be-active Diggin in the Corners blog (as soon as I can talk him into regular posts! he’s so good at it we gotta get him active):
HT here with my keys to the season, predictions and where we fit in the post season race.
Keys:
Offense/Bryz carry the team early - the restructed defense will take time to find cohesion and in a very tough Western Conference the Coyotes cannot afford to drop early games and expect to chase teams down throughout the season. The offense needs to come out firing that puck and Bryz needs to be the all world stopper that he’s previously proven he can be and not allow any of those early “soft” goals to slide into the net. As the season wears on, everything will come together as a team, but I believe early in the season (first 10-20 games) that the offense and Bryz need to come out on fire and carry the team early.
“Dirty” goals - goals coming from a “hard hat” type of effort, or from doing the “dirty work” in front of the net and in the corners I believe will be another key to the season. Having some of those big tenacious bodies parked in front of the net, all of our young talent needs to fire away at the net and hope for a ricochet or rebound goal. There can’t be the sitting back and waiting for that “perfect” pass or “perfect” lane to shoot the puck through, fire away and then grind out that “dirty” goal whacking away in front of the net. Rookies will struggle at points throughout a long season, that beautiful “perfect” play will not always be there, they (and the vets as well) need to be willing to shoot the puck and bang home a rebound… grind out a goal… clean up the trash in front of the net… whatever other team you wanna use to take those lose pucks in and around the crease and just get them in the dang net!
Secondary scoring from talent rich team - we’ve all heard how much talent there is on this team. In fact, since I moved here and started watching the Coyotes in the 98-99 season, I believe this is the most talented team, top to bottom, that the Coyotes have had since they’ve been in the valley. I know, I know, teams back then had Tkachuk.. Roenick.. Tocchet.. Teppo.. Drake and Coyote Cubs Doan and Briere.. and they were a lot of fun to watch. I still don’t know that I’ve seen a better player with his back to the net banging in those “dirty” goals then watching Tkachuk back in the day. The thing is, those teams didn’t have scoring talent as deep as this team does going into this season. Between injuries and just plain ol’ inefficiency, they just didn’t have the punch after that first line, line and a half.
This season there is potential to have Carcillo, a potentially 30 goal scorer per Gretzky, as a third liner (at least via the depth chart online at the moment). There could be Hobey Baker award winner Kevin Porter be on a third or fourth line, this is a guy who scored 63 points in 43 games last season and is tough at both ends of the ice. Yes, some of this maybe a bit of the offseason Coyote koolaid talking, but I think there is a ton of talent throughout the entire line-up and we need them all to chip in from time to time. The Big 3 can’t do it alone and finding some scoring balance throughout the line-up will be a key all season long.
