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The San Antonio Rampage’s Dan Weiss recently sat down with the Rampage’s new head coach Dan Weiss for an interview. Discussions ranged from last season’s results to looking ahead to the new season.
(All Videos produced by the San Antonio Rampage)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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In case you haven’t heard by now, one of the best reasons to be on Twitter when it comes to following NHL players was taken away Wednesday. Phoenix Coyotes Forward Paul Bissonnette’s Twitter account (Twitter handle – paulbiznasty) went dead Wednesday after a derogatory Tweet was posted and aimed towards Free Agent Forward Ilya Kovalchuk.
Instead of summing up the events Wednesday, check out the original article from Pro Hockey Talk’s website written by James O’Brien.
As much as I love the trash talking by Bissonnette he crossed the line with his derogatory comments about Kovalchuk. It doesn’t matter if Kovalchuk and his lack of a bonified NHL skill set is going to become grossly overpaid by either the Kings or the Devils. Nor does it matter that Kovalchuk’s contract will indeed become a Yashin-esque weight around the neck of whatever franchise signs him (It will. It is going to happen at this point in time).
No, the problem here is what he Tweeted was more than likely something that’s normally said on the ice but was taken into the public realm.
The problem is when trash talking moves off the ice and into a bigger realm like on Twitter, different rules apply. The spirit of the trash talking is the same. However, the execution of the trash talking in the public realm must be done without personal attacks as Bissonnette did in this case.
I agree with Justin Bourne’s Tweet in the Pro Hockey Talk article in the sense that Bissonnette’s attitude is exactly the kind of thing the NHL needs to market themselves better. Bissonnette’s Twitter account was quickly becoming a very popular destination for not just Coyote fans but NHL fans themselves. Bissonnette brought a human and personal face of not only an NHL player but it gave NHL fans a glimpse into an pro athlete’s life. A life that was free of canned comments and other pre-rehearsed answers that are normally found in the day to day workings of a professional sports team during a regular season.
NHL fans LOVE this kind of stuff!
Based on past experiences with other players around the league who have done somewhat similar things as Bissonnette did with his Tweets, one can more than likely conclude that the Phoenix Coyotes not only made Bissonnette aware of his mistake but probably made him shut down his Twitter account as well.
If this is indeed the case, it’s the wrong course of action for the Coyotes to take.
Don’t get me wrong, what Bissonnette said was wrong in reference to his personal attack on Ilya Kovalchuk.
However, making him pull the plug on his Twitter account (if that is indeed the case) is not the correct solution to this situation. What needs to be done is to have members of the Coyotes front office along with the Coyotes PR staff sit down with Bissonnette and give him a crash course in what is and is not acceptable for NHL players to say publicly via Twitter. I’m not talking about heavy censorship or micromanagement but just educate him that personal attacks via social media are not acceptable. A personal apology to Ilya Kovalchuk might be in order as well….then again, probably not. Settling it on the ice is probably the best way to go about it.
It’s fortunate that, in this case, one of the huge drawbacks of Coyotes coverage in the greater Phoenix area is the the lack of media available to cover the team at this time of year.
Why?
This drawback has turned into a huge bonus for the Coyotes. Had this been an NHL market like Vancouver, Montreal, or even Toronto this incident would have easily been in the headlines for days and the Coyotes would have been put under huge media scrutiny like Vancouver Canucks Defenseman Shane O’Brien has over the past few seasons.
In this market, stories and situations like these are going to blow over very, very quickly due to the lack of local media attention on the Phoenix Coyotes in the off-season.
Now, where to move forward from here….
Sadly, Phoenix Coyotes fans have probably seen the last of ‘paulbiznasty’ on Twitter. If this is the case it would be a HUGE mistake for the team and the NHL. In a short amount of time Paul Bissonnette has become one of the best people to follow on Twitter. He’s been growing a great grassroots base of fans from across the NHL.
Look at a few examples of the feedback from NHL and non NHL people about how they love his tweets:
Actor/Comedian Tom Green:
http://twitter.com/tomgreenlive/statuses/18392217467
@PaulBizNasty Let’s do it! I’m on tour so we will have to find a good time when I am back in LA. Yes. Everybody follow @PaulBizNasty
Mike Commodore of the Blue Jackets
http://twitter.com/commie22/status/16356783131
By the way @PaulBizNasty is Paul Bissonette from the Coyotes…new on twitter. Help him out. Good guy.
Bob McKenzie of TSN:
http://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/18492998430
@PaulBizNasty rapidly becoming one of faves on Twitter.
The Coyotes have been getting free publicity and exposure from his Tweets leading up to his Kovalchuk Tweet.
Let me say this again with more clarity.
THE COYOTES HAVE BEEN GETTING FREE PUBLICITY FROM BISSONNETTE’S TWEETS.
FREE.
Money may be tight with the team but shutting down his Twitter account is not something the Coyotes can afford now can they? To keep this account shut down would be a practice in idiocy and an EXTREMELY poor business practice.
Now is not the time to shut his account down. Let him re-open it and continue doing his thing. What’s the worse thing that can happen? More people wanting to come to Phoenix Coyotes games at home and on the road?
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Update: 1:43 PM Pacific Time -- Closed comments on this article. The point of the article was not to debate the legality of the hit. The point was to use the hit to explain a potential/possible loophole in the new ‘head hit’ rule moving forward. Your comments are always appreciated and welcome. I thank you all for taking the time out of your day to comment. However, after almost 90 comments it’s clear that the intended point was not getting across and that is my fault.
If you were watching the Phoenix Coyotes/Vancouver Canucks game last night in Vancouver, you will remember Canucks forward Ryan Kesler leveling Coyotes defenseman Derek Morris and his head into the boards.
If you haven’t seen the hit, here’s the video:
Now I’m not going to debate the legality of the hit as I’m pretty sure armchair NHL referees from the City of Vancouver will invade this thread and relay to me their interpretations of the rule book.
No, this article is about how this hit is the first new test of the NHL’s new ‘Head Shot’ rule.
If you aren’t familiar with this new rule, that was fast-tracked into the NHL rule book, check out this page with a video describing the new rule:
http://coyotes.azvibe.com/2010/03/27/nhl-releases-new-head-hit-rule-instructional-video/
Ok, back to the story…
Kesler was penalized on the play (5 minute major for roughing a ten minute misconduct and was thrown out of the game) but the hit brings up an interesting loophole in the new rule.
What happens when a player uses the opposing players body to drive his head into the boards?
Technically, the rule applies to this hit as Morris’s head was leveled into the glass, but it’s not explicitly written down in the books. If the NHL really wants to remove head shots in the game, they need to take this new loophole in the rule and seal it up.
The NHL Hockey Operations department released an instructional video regarding the new head hit rule. This new rule has been implemented into all games moving forward. As you know, the new head hit rule is defined as a hit that is “a lateral, back-pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact.” Anyone caught putting a hit on a player that violates this new rule is now open to additional punishment from the NHL, regardless if the player gets penalized on the ice or not.
For me, it was pretty tough to determine what exactly would be deemed a good hit and what hits would be suspension worthy under this new rule. However, once I saw the video the reasons for implementing this new rule were more much clear. I’m pretty sure this is the same video that was shipped out to all teams the other day (don’t quote me on that).
Anyways, here’s the video….
As it stands today, the Phoenix Coyotes ‘Magic Numbers’ to get into the playoffs are as follows:
They need to win 4 games to be guaranteed a playoff spot.
They need to win 8 games to be guaranteed 4th place in the west AND home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. In addition, they will have a 42% chance of winning the west.
As of today, the Coyotes have an 11% chance of winning the west.
If the Coyotes win out (win the rest of the games in the season) they will have a 96% chance of winning the west.
Other than that, the Coyotes do not control their own destiny for playoff spots higher than 4th. It’s going to be up to what the other teams do for the rest of the season that will dictate where the Coyotes playoff spot will be.
The Coyotes schedule doesn’t get any easier from here on out. They have a BRUTAL schedule from now until the end of the month that sees them criss-crossing North America with little to no space for breathing.
The Phoenix Coyotes play tonight in Dallas (March 21st) then travel to play Chicago on March 23rd, and then they are off to Nashville for a game on March 25th. The Coyotes then fly back home for one game with the Avalanche on the 27th, fly off to play the Canucks on March 30th and then play the Flames the following night before they can stay at home for more than than one night (or so it seems).
On this site, I keep saying that every game will be a test. With these last few games, these tests are re-defined on a game by game basis. New challenges, pressures, and playoff scenarios are making each game valuable but for different reasons.
To the Coyotes benefit, the following Pacific Division teams are having issues:
The Kings have an uphill battle as they are 4-5 since coming back from the Olympic break and need to win 8 games to be guaranteed a playoff spot.
The Sharks have spotty goaltending – They have allowed 18 goals in their last 4 games. ’nuff said.
Dallas – Since their game last game with Phoenix 11 games ago, goaltender Marty Turco has 2 wins 5 losses and has been benched for 4 games. Dallas has not done much to help their playoff chances which they do not control at the moment.
Ducks – Since the Olympic Break they are 3-5 and do not control their destiny in regards to the playoffs.
The teams that currently control their own playoff destiny are the current top 8 seeds in the west.
To be guaranteed a playoff spot, these top eight teams have the following ‘Magic Numbers’:
#1 Seed – Chicago Blackhawks – Need to win Three games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#2 Seed – San Jose Sharks – Need to win four games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#3 Seed – Vancouver Canucks – Need to win six games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#4 Seed – Phoenix Coyotes – Need to win four games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#5 Seed – Los Angeles Kings – Need to win eight games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#6 Seed – Nashville Predators – Need to win eight games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#7 Seed – Colorado Avalanche – Need to win eight games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
#10 Seed – Detroit Red Wings – Need to win ten games to be guaranteed a playoff spot
Ok all you Phoenix Coyotes fans out there, with the playoffs now becoming a reality it’s time to break down all the playoff scenarios.
Right now the Coyotes ‘magic number’ is 7.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with hockey, the ‘Magic Numbers’ are the number of games that the Coyotes must win to control their own destiny for a playoff spot. Controlling their own destiny means that the Coyotes will be guaranteed a playoff spot if they win 7 of their last 13 games. If they win any less than seven of their last thirteen games, they will have to rely on other teams to help them get into the playoffs. It’s also possible may not qualify for the playoffs at all if the Coyotes win less than seven games.
Can the Coyotes win the Pacific Division?
As it stands today, the Coyotes have less than a 2% chance of winning the division. However, it’s still statistically possible for the Coyotes to win the Pacific Division as the Coyotes have a 65% chance of getting the #1 spot in the West…if they win the rest of the games in their season. The drawback is that even if the Coyotes won the rest of their games this season, they would have 115 points on the season, would finish no worse than 4th in the Conference, and would require the help from other teams to win the Pacific Division.
Anyways, enough dreaming. Here’s how the Coyotes magic numbers break down…
If the Coyotes win…
- 13 of their final 13 games – 115 points – They would finish no worse than 4th in the West and have a 65% chance of the #1 spot in the west (they would need outside help for this)
- 12 of their final 13 games – 113 points – They would finish no worse than 4th in the West, have a 34% chance of the #1 spot in the west (they would need outside help for this) and a 51% chance of being guaranteed the 4th spot in the west.
- 11 of their final 13 games – 111 points – They would finish no worse than 5th in the West (a less than 1% chance at that). The Coyotes would have a 11% chance of the #1 spot in the west and a 72% chance of the 4th spot in the west (they would need outside help for this)
- 10 of their final 13 games – 109 points – They would finish no worse than 5th in the West, have a 2% chance of the #1 spot in the west and an 86% chance of finishing 4th (they would need outside help for this)
- 9 of their final 13 games – 107 points – They would finish no worse than 6th in the West (a less than 1% chance at that), have less than a 1% chance of the #1 spot in the west and an 87% chance of finishing 4th (they would need outside help for this)
- 8 of their final 13 games – 105 points – They would finish no worse than 7th in the West (a less than 1% chance at that), have less than a 1% chance of the #1 spot in the west a 72% chance of finishing 4th, and a 26% chance of finishing 5th (they would need outside help for this)
- 7 of their final 13 games – 103 points – They would finish no worse than 8th in the West (a less than 1% chance at that), have less than a 1% chance of the #1 spot in the west a 46% chance of finishing 4th, and a 49% chance of finishing 5th (they would need outside help for this)
In short, the Coyotes need to win 7 to be guaranteed a playoff spot. The Phoenix Coyotes would need to win 12 of their last 13 games to have home ice advantage.
These are going to be some fun games to watch down the stretch!!! Man I can’t wait!!!
The title of this article is a quote from a conference call Phoenix Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney had with the media yesterday afternoon. This conference call followed a HUGE day at the trade deadline for the Phoenix Coyotes. Maloney made a statement to the Coyotes players, the fans and the NHL that the Coyotes goal is to not only make the post season but do some MAJOR damage in the process. He also sent a message to the players that with the acquisition of new players, they are going to have to fight for ice time in Coach Dave Tippett’s system. It seemed that some of the players had become complacent and the new players were brought in to challenge the current Coyotes roster to play up to their abilities.
It should be interesting to note that Maloney wanted Coyotes fans to note the following during the press conference:
“We wanted to make a statement to our fanbase that we’re not fooling around we’re serious. We’ve given ourselves a chance to be a better team.”
Here’s a break down of the deals with analysis and some quotes from Coyotes GM Don Maloney:
This was a salary dump by the Bruins as they were looking to acquire a scoring forward before the trade deadline. Good to have Morris Back!
Don Maloney had this to say about the Morris deal:
“Morris is a tremendous addition in the sense of what was out on the marketplace…(the deal) was a home run for us”
“Derek is a well rounded player has a tremendous shot..(he) makes a great first pass he’s got a hard shot”
Problem player for problem player is what this deal boils down to. It has the potential to be a great trade as it looks like both Mueller and Wolski needed a change of scenery.
According to the Denver Post:
- Wolski has 2 goals in last 25 games. One was an empty netter.
- 4 PP goals in his last 150 games.
- Wolski has been in the doghouse of every coach dating back to Quenneville and Granato
According to the Denver Post, Wolski is “a Jeff George-type of hockey player. He puts up good numbers, but never in the clutch and never in the tough areas.”
Coyotes GM Don Maloney had this to say about Wolski:
The Wolski deal “…was the one name that made a tremendous amount of sense for us. Quite frankly he’s a player we can stick into our lineup tomorrow night, he’s a proven scorer in this league. He’s still young, still maturing, still evolving. In my mind, you can put 50 points in a bad year into the books with Wojtek. And I think there’s tremendous upside there.”
According to Jason Botchford of the Province (Vancouver B.C.), the conditional pick is dependent on Schneider clearing waivers.
This is a pretty bad deal for the Coyotes as they have someone who has been a locker room cancer in Vancouver. Schneider burned his bridges with the team so badly, that NO ONE in the Canucks organization, from the top on down, wanted him back this season.
Here’s an article I wrote about Schneider from earlier this season that breaks down the deal:
Schneider has a lot to prove if he clears waivers and makes it to the Coyotes starting lineup.
Coyotes GM Don Maloney had this to say about the Schneider deal:
“Mathieu Schneider is a wild card. He hasn’t played much this year, but that might be a good thing.”
“(Schneider) can shoot a puck, he finds a way to get pucks on the net on the power play. That was a big concern.
Stempinak brings a 30 point campaign (14 goals and 16 assists) to the Coyotes. Averaging around 17 to 19 minutes a night he’s been marginally average on a Maple Leafs team that lacks chemistry. In 2006 he tallied 27 goals and 25 assists for 52 points but hasn’t been able to match this point production ever since. The Coyotes look to him for immediate offensive help, especially on their anemic Power Play unit.
Forward Alex Picard is a former first round draft pick in 2004 (#8 overall) that the Blue Jackets have pretty much given up on. Given how the Jacket’s screwed up Gilbert Bule’s (another Blue Jackets first round draft pick) development I’m not going to jump to any conclusions just yet. The Coyotes have assigned Picard to the San Antonio Rampage for the remainder of the season.
Hockey’s Future has a GREAT Breakdown of Kolarik as a player:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/alex-picard
Highway Robbery. That is the only way to explain this deal over a player that Don Maloney signed from free agency for a player that was the #1 goalie on the Rangers AHL farm club. In 2007-2008 he had a 21-18-4 record with a 2.70 GAA over 43 games for the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers AHL affiliate. This season he saw limited action with the Wolfpack this season starting only seven games with a 2-4-0 record and a 4.20 GAA. Wiikman also spent time with the ECHL Charlotte Checkers playing 17 games with a 9-3-1 record and a 2.84 GAA.
It seems that since an injury earlier this season, Wiikman’s value with the Rangers has slipped and Matt Zaba has moved up on the organizational depth chart. Wiikman seems to have the skills and its looking more and more like a change of scenery to a Coyotes team that lacks organizational depth is a perfect fit.
This is the second of the rangers top prospects that General Manager Don Maloney stole from the rangers.
Here’s a scouting report of Wiikman:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/miika_wiikman
Petteri Nokelainen, a Finland product, was drafted in the first round of the 2004 NHL entry draft (16th overall). After spending the better part of the 2005-2006 season on the IR, Nokelainen has spent only three full seasons in the league playing 3rd and 4th line minutes. According to Maloney, Nokelainen was brought in for depth and to challenge the 3rd and fourth line players for ice time.
This Wednesday at 1 PM (Arizona Time) is the NHL Trade deadline and there is sure to be an insane flurry of trades. The trade deadline is used by some teams to put the finishing touches on their rosters as they prepare for the playoffs. Other teams, who may miss the playoffs, sometimes use the trade deadline to acquire valuable draft picks or prospects for the future.
For those of you who don’t know how trades are processed in the NHL here’s a quick and dirty list:
1) When two teams have reached an agreement on a deal, both clubs must contact the NHL front office of the particulars of the deal.
2) Both teams must schedule a conference call with the NHL Front office.
3) Before the conference call the NHL Front office will make sure that both teams have salary cap space/draft picks available/space available on their reserve roster to make the trade.
4) The NHL Front Office then schedules a conference call with the two teams to discuss the terms of the deal before final approval is given. While on the trade call the NHL Front office will go over the terms of the given players contract, make sure that if a given player has a no trade/movement clause that the clause has been waived, and make sure that any other particulars in the transaction have been defined and both teams agreed upon them.
5) Once the Trade Conference Call with the NHL Front office has ended, the trade becomes official
If the last three years of trade deadlines are any indication of what’s to come, it’s going to be a fun time as the trade deadline approaches. Check out the stats for the last three deadlines in reference to deals and players moved:
2006-07 Season – 25 trades involving 44 players
2007-08 Season – 25 trades involving 45 players
2008-09 Season – 22 trades involving 47 players
When it comes to the Coyotes, they have the following 2010 draft picks available to be used as part of deals before the trade deadline:
Two (2) – First Round Draft Picks
One (1) – Second Round Draft Pick
Two (2) – Fourth Round Draft Picks
One (1) – Sixth Round Draft Pick
One (1) – Seventh Round Draft Pick
Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney has publicly said that his first priority is to locate a depth defenseman. It’s not known if that’s a top 3 or bottom 3 defenseman he’s looking for. Next on his list is offensive help. I agree with this. However, when it comes to the offense, it seems the part of the problem with the Coyotes anemic offense is player related and the other part is coaching related.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the Coyotes get any deals done before 1PM tomorrow.
Stay tuned…
Finally For you NHL salary cap number crunching junkies, here’s how cap numbers are figured out at the trade deadline (via the NHL):
The salary that is charged against a team’s cap is the pro rated amount remaining of the player’s average yearly salary. For example, if a player has an average yearly salary of
$2 million, the amount charged against the acquiring team’s cap is the pro-rated amount remaining of $2 million.This is calculated by dividing $2 million by the number of days in the season (193). The amount ($10,363) is then multiplied by the number of days remaining in the season from the day the trade is made (40 days if trade is on March 3) to ascertain the amount charged against the team’s cap ($414,508).
If you have any questions about the Trade deadline, feel free to post them as comments and I’ll reply to them.
I first saw a tweet not too long ago from the Coyotes stating that Dave Schlemko was re-assigned back to San Antonio. I then took a look at the Coyotes roster and noted that this transaction brought the Phoenix Coyotes down to seven defensemen.
Just moments after that, I saw a Tweet from Bob McKenzie’s (from TSN) Twitter account noting that Coyotes defenseman Anders Eriksson was waived this morning as well. This transaction brought the total number of defensemen available for tonight’s game against the Blues down to six (unless Eriksson is playing tonight which I doubt).
Is there a trade brewing before the end of the day for a depth defenseman?
We shall see….
God I hope not. Now this is just pure speculation here. Ales Kotalik was about to be traded this evening to an unnamed team. Now the rumor mill is starting to churn about where Kotalik was going to go and who he would be traded for. Instead of fueling rumors, here’s the facts:
1) New York Rangers GM Glen Sather was in attendance at the Coyotes/Flames game the other night
2) Calgary Flames GM Brent Sutter was in attendance at the Coyotes/Flames game the other night
3) Ales Kotalik dressed only once in the past nine games
4)Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported that Kotalik remained in Phoenix while the rest of the Rangers traveled to Denver.
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rangers/ales_kotalik_leaves_rangers_over_fmjYG1tgtTd2bcYnXMcpbN
5) Robert Lang was scratched tonight for the Coyotes. Lang never gets scratched.
Now this is purely speculation but were the Phoenix Coyotes…er…Don Maloney about to trade Robert Lang for Ales Kotalik? Or was Kotalik going to the Flames in a different deal?
Again this is just speculation. I don’t claim (or ever have claimed) to have ‘inside information’.
We started this site to meet the growing demand by Coyotes fans in their need for Coyotes News. We do things a bit differently here. We don\'t provide the canned articles you would find on most other sites. We provide analysis, news, and information with a bit of attitude. EDITORIAL MISSION: We let the other guy handle the box scores and stuff like that. We fill in the gaps in coverage....and trust me there are lots of gaps in local coverage that need to be filled.
