Arizona Coyotes Surprising Start Goes Against the Plan

After 13 games in this new NHL season, the Arizona Coyotes surprising start of 6-6-1 has people talking. After all, it’s against the plan… you know the plan where when you’re in a rebuild you lose games to be eligible to get a top draft pick because you are at or near the bottom of the standings.

As of November 11th, the team stands in a wild card position much to the surprise of.. well EVERYONE. While it may be glorious to rampant fans of the team, the objective not be a very good team seems (at least of late) have gone by the wayside.

Arizona Coyotes Surprising Start is Puzzling

See, when your team hasn’t been playing well because they really aren’t that good, you don’t expect anything like a three-game winning streak, especially while playing on the road. The teams they have beaten in this streak aren’t having an exceptional start to their season with a combined 22-20-1 record. There are some surprising results from teams who are not known to lose games.

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost seven straight and are struggling with a 5-6-2 record. The Calgary Flames aren’t doing much better with the same record while dropping seven in a row as well. Then, there’s the really puzzling situation of the St. Louis Blues. Who would have thought they would lose eight consecutive games after winning their first three games? They finally ended that streak with a 5-3 win over the hapless San Jose Sharks.

Head coach André Tourigny, forward Travis Boyd, and goalie Karel Vejmelka had some good things to say about their team’s performance against a New York Islanders team who had won seven of their last eight games.

"You’re seeing a team right now that’s willing to go to battle for each other. Willing to play the right way for 60 minutes."

Hear from head coach André Tourigny, Travis Boyd, and Karel Vejmelka following tonight’s win against the Islanders: pic.twitter.com/Bt435LBjZH

— Arizona Coyotes PR (@AZCoyotesPR) November 11, 2022

So, What’s Going Well so Far This Season?

For one thing, special teams. This 2022-23 season has the Coyotes ranked third in the NHL on power plays with a 29.6 percent success rate. What was it last season? Try 26th with a dismal 16.7 percent rate. On the penalty kill, they have achieved an 81.6 percent kill rate ranking them 10th. Compared to last season where they finished 26th with a 76.1 percent rate.

Needless to say, if your special units are playing well, good things tend to happen. Then, if you can follow that up with good goaltending, you are turning the right switches. Vejmelka (nicknamed “Veggie”) has done just that. He holds a 5-3-1 record with a .915 save percentage and a 3.07 goals-against-average. That places him 11th and 21st respectively in the league for goalies who have played at least seven games thus far.

As a team, the Yotes are rated 24th with 2.85 goals scored a game. They are also the ONLY team to have scored at least two goals in all their 13 games played. The Arizona club is ranked 26th in goals allowed with a 3.54 goals-against-average.

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What Home Ice Advantage?

With the current situation of the Coyotes having to play 14 straight games on the road, it seems to have pumped this squad up. They are playing loose and having fun. Of course, they could score more goals and allow less to really exceed expectations. By the time they get back home, they may forget what it was like to play on home ice and sleep in their own beds. They will get a break to come home for a short stint after they play the New Jersey Devils (eight straight wins) on Saturday, November 12th, and the New York Rangers the next night. The reason behind that is, they will have three days off before having to face the red-hot Vegas Golden Knights on November 17th. It’s a short flight from Phoenix to Vegas.

For Now, Thoughts of Conor Bedard Are Distant

While some Arizona fans are getting very excited, it is still very early in the season. We all know that an 82-game schedule can be grinding. Yet, to this point don’t tell that to the surging Coyotes players. They have seemed to click and it couldn’t happen to a better crew of players. Take for instance, Matias Maccelli. Right now he is tied with Matthew Beniers of the Seattle Kraken and Shane Pinto of the Ottawa Senators with nine points this season. His playmaking abilities are evident by his one goal and eight assists. Beniers has five goals and four assists, while Pinto has tallied eight goals and one assist. If Maccelli shoots more, the goals will come.

This team has an excellent mixture of veterans and young prospects causing some havoc for opposing teams. Another key factor is the goal scoring abilities of both Lawson Crouse and Nick Ritchie who both have six tallies in just 13 games. If they could sustain their torrid start, they will both end up with 38 goals if they play every game. The additional factor for these two forwards is their size. Crouse stands 6′-4″, 220 pounds. Ritchie is 6′-2″, 230 pounds. Try moving either one of them out of the slot area, and you’ll have a huge task in front of you.

So, it’s okay to continue to dream of drafting Bedard, but for now, the wins are certainly a welcome treat.