Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

Center Robert Lang signs a 1 year deal with the Coyotes

Free agent Center Robert Lang signed a one-year contract with the Coyotes on Tuesday.  Lang seemed to have spent considerable time with the Coyotes physicians today to make sure that his injured Achilles injury from last season in Montreal (he played 50 game with the Canadiens before injury) is 100%.  Last year with the Habs he scored 18 goals and 21 assists with a +6 rating.

Now what does Lang bring to the Coyotes?

He’s a center with who had a 49% faceoff percentage (last season with the Habs), averaged around 17 minutes of Ice time per game, and scored 39 points in 50 games before injury.  Had he not been injured, he more than likely would have been one of the top three scorers on the Canadiens last season.

Lang, if he stays healthy this season, can add scoring depth and much needed faceoff help to the roster.

Lang also brings playoff experience, a much needed extra veteran presence to a young locker room and someone who has played on many winning teams over the years.  The last thing that Lang brings to the table, a winning attitude/experience is something that can only benefit the Coyotes this season.

So what’s the downside?

Right now, the main downside is that the possibility that Lang’s Achilles could rupture again.  These types of injuries take anywhere from four to six months to heal.  Chances are he’s going to need a specially fitted skate to prevent the injury from happening again.  If he’s healthy, he’s going to be a tremendous bonus to the roster.

Ryan Hollweg signed to a one year, $500,000 contract

Hollweg (who has been sent to San Antonio to make room for Robert Lang) signed a one year contract with the Coyotes for $500,000.  He was part of the Coyotes opening day roster until the Coyotes signed Robert Lang.

I doubt that the Coyotes will be sending Hollweg to San Antonio but they have to cut one player before the season starts.  Stay tuned on who it may be….

Bill Daly on Jim Balsille’s future as an NHL owner

Puck Daddy posted this VERY interesting video answer from NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly about Jim Balsille pursuit of the Phoenix Coyotes.

This video was shot at the Washington Capitals fan convention this past week and was taken from Puck Daddy’s writeup of the event.

Daly talks about not only how he went about owning an NHL team the wrong way but sheds some light on what he can do moving forward to possibly own an NHL team in the future.

I don’t know if we should read in between the lines with some of Daly said here or not.  I can definitely see the following messages being sent to Ballsille:

1) Give up your pursuit of the Coyotes…NOW.

2) If you want to become an NHL owner, you have to play by our rules.

I’ll say this, I’ve attended a Bill Daly press conference before and he doesn’t give softball answers at all.

I wanted to spend the majority of yesterday watching the events of the Phoenix Coyotes head coaching soap opera unfold before writing this article.  This is because when former Coyotes Head Coach Wayne Gretzky posted this statement on his website, and because of the wording of said statement, I knew I was in for an interesting day.

A little background about me first…

My expertise is analysis of Hockey and the breaking down of every possible aspect of a game or story.  I’ve been doing this type of analysis for quite sometime (about 6-7 years now) on a couple of Hockey forums (I post on this hockey forum regularly as the username ‘Dolemite’).  Based on my experiences and knowledge of how the NHL (From a public perspective.  I don’t claim to be an ‘NHL insider’ at all) and the US/Canadian hockey media works, I knew that a new head coach would be announced within 36 hours of when Gretzky posted the statement on his website.

As the day wore on, I read/watched Tweets, articles, and video from many and various Hockey media types across North America.

With every article or statement I read, one theme kept coming up again and again with the media types:

None of them could understand how such a great guy like Gretzky could be treated in such a manner as he was over the past few weeks.

Now let’s be clear here.

No one has ever questioned his character in how the series of events, leading up to yesterday, have unfolded.

The thing that the hockey fans/media/players don’t understand is that even though Wayne Gretzky may be a great guy with great character, he ran the Coyotes into the ground with poor business decision after poor business decision.

Gretzky was given the keys to a proverbial brand new car in the Coyotes (on June 2, 2000) and by the time September 24th, 2009  came around he returned the proverbial car so badly damaged that it was hardly drivable and it’s almost to the point to where the proverbial car is beyond repair.

Examples

What I want to do here is provide a few examples of how Wayne Gretzky drove the team into the ground.

June 2, 2000 is when Wayne Gretzky was named not only a Managing Partner of the Coyotes but he was also placed in charge of all hockey operations.

Ok.  Re-read this everyone.

He was placed in charge of ALL hockey operations for the Coyotes on June 2, 2000.

This means he was responsible for everything that had to do with the running of the Coyotes.

Let’s look at some of the decisions that were made on Gretzky’s watch:

1) A string of head coaches, some of which had no business being a head coach.

2) August 28, 2001 to April 11th 2007 – Gretzky’s agent and friend, Mike Barnett, was hired as the GM of the Coyotes.

Barnett was responsible for signing this string of duds:

• Signing heavyweight Forward Georges Laraque WITH a ‘No Trade Clause’ (NTC).  Laraque was brought into Phoenix as a player who could punish opponents…that was until Laraque caught a bad case of  ‘I have offensive skills and I can score’-itis.

• Ed Jovanovski – Signed the defenseman to a five year contract paying him $6.5 million dollar each year WITH a NTC. “He was the player we wanted,” Gretzky said after the signing.
  

• Brett Hull – Yeesh

• August 2006 -Accepting arbitration for Ladislav Nagy when he should have let him go.

• Mike Ricci – Signed a once great player that was WAY past his prime.  Ricci managed to only play 85 games in two seasons with the Coyotes.

• Trading away Daniel Briere for Chris Gratton.

• Signed Jeremy Roenick for a second tour of duty with the Coyotes.  Roenick carried his bad partying habits he picked up with the LA Kings (where he reportedly picked up an all access pass to the Playboy Mansion while with the Kings) onto Phoenix.

3) In the first years of the Coyotes in the desert, a scouting staff that was far from competent.  This was supposedly resolved under Barnett’s tenure.  During the time Barnett was with the Coyotes the team didn’t show any sign of improvement until he was relieved of his GM duties in April of 2007.

4) August 8th, 2005 – Gretzky Names himself Head Coach of the Phoenix Coyotes

May 31, 2006 – Re-signs himself to a 5 year contract extension.

This was the worst decision that Gretzky made during his tenure.

Allowing someone with zero coaching experience to become a Coach of an NHL team is something that would never happen on any other NHL team.  None.  Zero.  Even Hall of Fame Goalie Patrick Roy started his coaching, GM and c0-ownership desires in the Minor Leagues:

http://www.remparts.qc.ca/eng/index.asp?page=operations_hockey

This is what Gretzky should have done if he wanted to run his own show before moving onto the NHL.

Why Gretzky deserves all the flack he’s getting in the media

Gretzky had been given MORE than enough time to show some sign of progress with the Coyotes but there had been none while losing tons of money in the process.

This is also why Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes should have removed Gretzky a LONG time ago as the financial losses mounted with the team.  No other owner in the NHL would have stood by and let these losses mount like Moyes did.

Now here’s the point that many Hockey pundits or fans may not understand about why Gretzky deserves the flack he’s getting:

If something isn’t working correctly in business, you put personal feelings aside and make a business decision to make the business run correctly.  Furthermore, one of the basic laws of running your own business is that you NEVER hire friends to run your business.  You find the best possible experts in their given fields and allow them to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Let’s be honest here.  The public perception of Gretzky’s tenure in Phoenix is not that of a hockey businessman or a Front Office talent.  The public perception of Gretzky’s years in charge of the Coyotes Hockey Operations is that of a kid who ran his team like he was playing EA’s ‘NHL 10′ on the X-Box.

Food for thought:  What if Gretzky had run Team Canada in the 2002 Olympics the same way he ran the Coyotes?

Sorry Wayne, I’m sure you are a great guy as many of you colleagues, friends and former teammates have attested to over the past few months.  However, you made TONS of  HORRIBLE business decisions over the years that directly effected where the Coyotes are right now.  Teetering on the edge of moving to God knows where.

Like Mark Messier’s tenure in Vancouver, your time in Phoenix will always be a black mark on what is a storied and unparalleled career in Hockey.

So what can Wayne do now?

Well, first we all need to see if all this damage that has been done to the Coyotes is going to cost the city their team today (the Bankruptcy Court should make its ownership ruling today).

After that?

Gretzky should go back to something that worked for him in the past.  Find a way to parallel his success when he was Executive Director of Team Canada for the 2002 Winter Olympics with the Coyotes.

We’re going to have more on this later (after the 3 PM press conference) but for now, here’s the official statement from the Coyotes about Wayne Gretzky resigning as head coach of the Coyotes:

The Phoenix Coyotes would like to sincerely thank Wayne Gretzky for his dedicated service to the Coyotes organization since joining the club in 2000. During that time, he gave the team a true identity and credibility. His passion for the sport of hockey, and specifically, hockey in Phoenix, was an inspiration to those he worked with on a daily basis. Wayne’s unmatched professionalism will also be missed.

Wayne is often credited with the rise of hockey in southern and western markets. He was proud to represent one of those very franchises, and the Coyotes were fortunate to have him. Although his time with the Coyotes has come to an end, the examples he set and the legacy he leaves will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on everyone associated with the franchise.

The Phoenix Coyotes are holding a 3PM press conference at the Jobing.com arena for what they call a ‘major announcement regarding the team’s hockey operations department’.

The Press Conference will be streamed Live on the Coyotes website http://coyotes.nhl.com.

Attending the press conference will be members of the front office, the team’s coaches, along with Coyotes Captain Shane Doan.

Stay tuned folks. This could be good.

My money is on former Stars Coach, Dave Tippett being hired or they’re going to discuss Wayne Gretzky stepping down.

It was reported today by the Phoenix Coyotes Dave Vest that Jim Balsille’s lawyers told US Bankruptcy court judge that they were not seeking to move the team this year. That means regardless of the outcome of the bankruptcy case, the Coyotes will play in Phoenix this season.

Now will a local TV contract be finalized with this news?

Stay tuned….

As a thanks to Coyotes fans, the Phoenix Coyotes will be selling tickets for their October 10th Home Opener with the Columbus Blue Jackets for $25 for all lower bowl seats and $15 for all upper bowl seats. These Specially priced tickets go on sale Thursday September 24th only through the Coyotes website.

“We’re looking forward to holding the first-ever WhiteOut at Jobing.com Arena at this year’s Home Opener,” said Coyotes Cheif Operating Officer Doug Moss in a prepared statement. “We received tremendous support from our fans during the summer, so this a way for us to thank them while also celebrating the start of a new hockey season.”

The NHL will also be offering a 15% off coupon for all merchandise at the NHL Online Store that will be included with every ticket offer.

How can you pass this great deal up to see the new-look coyotes?

You can purchase tickets now (today only) with presale codes via the following link:

http://phoenix.fanster.com/savethecoyotes/2009/09/23/welcome-back-whiteout/

After some feedback, here’s what’s going on. Right now the pre-sale code has been released to hardcore Coyotes fans, Season Ticket holders, and people on their ticket package mailing lists. The link above is for some of the die-hard fans that have been following the Coyotes court case this offseason very closely and has been shared to fans.

Until 9 AM tomorrow, you have the opportunity to get first crack at the great seats for the Home Opener. At 10 AM, the tickets will go on sale to the masses.

I came across this writeup of last night’s Coyotes/Lightning game in Everett, WA and thought you all might want to check the game write up from a neutral point of view.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090923/SPORTS/709239648/1004&news01ad=1

Coyotes forward Francis Lessard has been suspended by the NHL for the rest of the pre-season and three regular season games for his boarding major that took place in the September 18th game against the Anaheim Ducks.

You’ve all may have heard the news by now that New Coyotes assistant coach Dave King suffered a heart attack before last night’s game in Everett, WA are false. The Fan 960 in Calgary and a Coyotes spokesman (via Sportsnet) have both stated that the rumor is false and that he “felt unwell”.

UPDATE – 6:29 PM AZ Time

I just got re-confirmation from the Coyotes that the reports of Dave King having a heart attack is 100% false.

The Coyotes just announced that forward Ryan Hollweg has been re-assigned to the San Antonio Rampage’s training camp. The Coyotes Pre-season roster is now down to 30 players.