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Coyotes Have the Team Stats of a Basement Team

February 15, 2020, 1:15 PM ET [43 Comments]
James Tanner
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The Coyotes are blowing it.

Down from first in the division just a week or two ago, the Coyotes now sit in fifth with 64 points, and it's a damn good thing this division sucks or they'd be done.

The Coyotes somehow still hold a Wild Card spot even though they have picked up just three points out of the last eight available to them, and recently lost to the Ottawa Senators AHL roster.

The Coyotes are 1-4 in their last five.

Tonight they get to play the Washington Capitals and may or may not have Darcy Kuemper back in net. Even if they do, what's the odds that he will continue to post a ridiculous .930 save percentage?

The Coyotes are 23rd in Team Corsi.

19th in shot-percentage.

22nd in expected goals percentage.

26th in scoring chance percentage.

26th in high-danger scoring chances.

Those are not the numbers of a playoff team.



The Coyotes have a reputation for being a good defensive team, but good defensive teams shouldn't allow way more shots and scoring chances than they get.

A lot of people try to make hockey stats more difficult than they need to be, or they say things like "you don't understand the stats you're writing about."

Those are things that ignorant people say so that they can keep believing in what they already believe in. Hockey stats aren't complicated - if you get more shot-attempts, and scoring chances than the other team, you have a better chance of winning than losing.

Nothing could be more simple.

It is an indisputable fact that teams that allow more shot-attempts, shots, scoring chances, dangerous chances and expected goals than they get are not good at defense.

The Coyotes - when not getting elite goaltending - are essentially an overpaid version of the Ottawa Senators.

To be sure, they do have some good players, but the way in which they deploy them is, frankly, asinine.

To name one of many examples: since they acquired Taylor Hall, they've played him almost exclusively with Conner Garland and Christian Dvorak.

He has played seven minutes with Clayton Keller, and 14 minutes with Nick Schmaltz.

If the team was winning, sure stick with your plan. But since they've picked up Hall, they've been garbage, so why not do something crazy like play your best players together?

Just a thought!

Stats from naturalstattrick.com
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