What a difference a year makes for three teams
When the NHL’s 2009-10 season began, few experts predicted the Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators would be contenders for playoff berths in the Western Conference.
Last season, the Avalanche had the third-worst record in the league and had begun rebuilding with young players. The Coyotes future in Phoenix was in doubt following bankruptcy and a nasty battle over ownership of the team between the league and billionaire Jim Balsillie. The Predators were thought to lack the offensive depth needed to be a playoff contender.
Even when the Coyotes and Avalanche bolted from the gate this season and the Predators overcame a slow start, few expected those teams to remain in the Western Conference playoff race by midseason. But the three clubs are now jockeying for playoff position and showing few signs of fading out of the race.
The Avalanche have performed the better of the three, having hung on to first in the Northwest Division for most of this season, and sit among the top three teams in the conference standings.
First-year head coach Joe Sacco has done a tremendous job so far in getting the most out of one of the youngest rosters in the NHL. Young forwards Paul Stastny, Wojtek Wolski, Matt Duchene and Chris Stewart are among the Avs’ leading scorers, center Ryan O’Reilly has plenty of promise and call-up Brandon Yip, who has 10 points in 14 games, has provided additional scoring punch. Defensemen Kyle Quincey and Kyle Cumiskey have become key parts of the Colorado blueline corps.
Perhaps the main reason for the Avalanche’s surprising success is the performance of goaltender Craig Anderson, who’s shown no signs of wear in his first full season as an NHL starter with a 25-11-5 record in 42 games, a 2.52 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and four shutouts.
Meanwhile, the Predators have long been renowned for their solid goaltending and strong defensive play, but it’s the improvement in their offensive game this season which is responsible for their current placement as a postseason contender.
Last season, the Predators were unable to overcome the loss of rising scoring star Alexander Radulov’s defection to Russia's KHL, resulting in the team finishing 20th overall in goals-per-game average. But this season the Preds have improved to 13th overall in goals-per-game, in part because of the return of veteran winger Steve Sullivan and the play of young forward Patric Hornqvist.
Sullivan staged a late-season comeback in 2008-09 after missing nearly two years to back surgeries. This season, he’s rewarded management’s faith in him as he’s tied for the team lead in points with 32 and is on pace for a 51-point performance.
Hornqvist has been a very pleasant surprise. After finishing last season with only 7 points in 28 games, he has 20 goals and 32 points in 50 games so far and could reach the 35-goal mark by season’s end.
The performance of the Coyotes is arguably the most surprising considering its offseason distractions and uncertainty over its future. The team, led by captain Shane Doan, has displayed tremendous character this season, refusing to allow those problems to adversely affect their performance.
Credit begins with general manager Don Maloney, who made several key moves despite a limited budget to bolster the roster. He also hired former Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett as the Coyotes new bench boss to replace the departed Wayne Gretzky, and his emphasis on defensive hockey has paid significant dividends.
In 2008-09, the Coyotes were in the bottom third of the league in goals against, shots against and penalty killing. This season, they currently have the ninth best goals-against record, have given up the ninth fewest shots and possess the 10th best penalty kill.
Another reason for the improvement in those numbers is the goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov, who has a 26-14-4 record with a 2.33 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and five shutouts, ranking him amongst the league’s top goalies this season.
Up front, Doan is once again the Coyotes leading scorer, but he’s now getting help from Matthew Lombardi, Radim Vrbata, Scottie Upshall and Robert Lang, whom Maloney brought in last year via trades and free agency to provide much-needed veteran forward depth.
On the blueline, the Coyotes have benefitted from the resurgence of veteran Ed Jovanovski, the offseason addition of veterans Adrian Aucoin and Jim Vandermeer and the continued improvement of Keith Yandle and Zybnek Michalek.
Critics will quickly point out that by this time last season, the Coyotes were also sitting fifth overall in the West only to fall out of the playoff race by March, but this is a different team with a different attitude compared to a year ago so another late-season collapse is no certainty.
With about two and a half months remaining in the regular season, the Coyotes, Avalanche and Predators cannot afford any significant letdowns in their performances as there’s still enough time to injuries or inconsistency to send them tumbling out of the race.
If, however, these three clubs can keep playing as well down the stretch as they have so far, they could be marching to the playoffs in April.
