GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Captain Shane Doan recited the key to the Coyotes' 2014-15 season so succinctly that it laid bare all other chatter.
"We need Smitty to be our best player every night," he said last week.
How did goalie Mike Smith react to that 10,000-pound weight of pressure?
"No! He's wrong!" Smith said with a grin. "The pressure is on Yands (Keith Yandle) and OEL (Oliver Ekman-Larsson). They've got to score lots of goals. Lots of goals!"
There is no doubt the Arizona blue line must take another step forward, particularly in its own end, if this team is going to contend for a playoff spot in the deep Western Conference. But that burden takes a back seat to the one resting on Smith's shoulders.
The Coyotes can talk all they want about returning to their old pack mentality -- and it is another important component to success this season -- but the team they like to cite as the example for that identity, the 2012 Western Conference finalist, had 77-point producer Ray Whitney and 35-goal scorer Radim Vrbata patrolling the ice.
This year's club has a whole lot of gritty types -- some might say too many -- but it doesn't have a whole lot of proven, top-end offensive talent in the forward group so it won't have much margin for error
"I anticipate we're going to play a lot of close games," coach Dave Tippett said. "That's how we're built."
Which brings us back to Smith. In that wondrous 2011-12 season, he posted a .930 save percentage and a 2.21 goals against average to rank third and seventh respectively in the NHL in those categories. Depending on your perspective, that season will be either be viewed as the standard or an anomaly until he and the Coyotes can come close to replicating it.
Tippett believes the Coyotes can do a better job limiting opponents' scoring chances, and maybe GM Don Maloney will acquire that physical defenseman Tippett so covets in order to improve in that area.
But these Coyotes should not be mistaken for the Jacques Demers-coached Red Wings of the late 1980s.
"We're a very defensively responsible team. We focus on it; we try to play to our strengths. We're not going to be a run and gun team," said Coyotes assistant to the GM, Sean Burke, who also coaches the goalies. "But if you look, we are a team that does, historically give up a lot of scoring chances so for us to be successful our goaltending has to be very, very good."
Last season, the Coyotes allowed 31 shots per game, which ranked 23rd in the NHL. The season before, they allowed 30.6 (21st). But those numbers were an improvement over the Western Conference finalist team in 2012, which allowed 31.6 per game.
Smith understands his workload may be a little greater than more celebrated goalies like Jonathan Quick (26.2 shots per game last season). Burke also acknowledges that a higher shot total puts more mental strain on a goaltender every night -- strain that can wear on a player over the course of a season. But Smith believes it comes part and parcel with the six-year, $34 million deal he signed.
"That's how it's supposed to be," he said. "But there's more to it. We lost a lot of games last year where teams either came back on us or beat us in overtime. When you miss the playoffs by two points, you scratch your head and look back at those. It adds up."
"I understand I need to be good, but I think as a group, we all can be a little bit better in some areas to make it easier on ourselves."
That's all true, and it's the same mantra you'll hear repeated from every Arizona player and coach because it's all they can say when they lack the elite skill of the top teams in the West.
But Smith believes the Coyotes must find that old identity quickly this season, both for confidence and to establish a base of belief that this organization is, indeed, moving forward as it infused some youth into the roster.
"Obviously, you want to get better as a team and you want to give yourself the best chance to win. That's why I signed back here last summer and that's why I'm here long term," he said. "Going forward, I hope we move in the right direction where we're trying to improve every single season, whether that's bringing in young guys that can help our team win now or bringing in different players that are going to contribute."
"It's always in your blood to want to win so if you're improving every year and trying to give yourself the best chance, then it's acceptable."
Arizona may have a different idea of acceptable, however, than they do in Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Boston and other cities.
"In order to make the playoffs, especially if you're not a cap team, it's smart to have a roster with good goaltending, a good blue line and some strong pieces that give you a chance," Burke said. "But ultimately, to be a Stanley Cup winning team, I don't think the formula to get there is by needing your goaltender to be the best player every night.
"At the end of the day, to win a Stanley Cup, you need a Stanley Cup roster. To be a competitive team every night and give yourself a chance to make playoffs? We have the sort of team that can do that if Smitty is playing the way he's capable of playing."
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