Tough Days For Coyotes

The App is Back! Don’t forget to download the NBC Sports EDGE app to receive real-time player news, mobile alerts and track your favorite players. Plus, now you can check out articles and player cards. Get it here!

Not much was expected of the Arizona Coyotes this season, but starting 0-9-1 is bad by any standard. Even compared to the abysmally terrible 2019-20 Red Wings, that’s dreadful. Detroit finished with a 17-49-5 record in that campaign, but they were a closer to respectable 3-7-0 through their first 10 games. That said, this isn’t uncharted territory for the Coyotes.

They went 0-10-1 to start a campaign as recently as 2017-18, not that that’s a flattering comparison given that they fell well out of a playoff position that season with a 29-41-12 record.

Arizona’s biggest problem has been a near complete lack of offense. On Tuesday they were shutout for the third time this season and they’ve been held to just one goal another four times. They’re averaging just 1.30 goals per game, which if they somehow stayed at that level for the entire season would make the 2021-22 Coyotes by far the worst offensive team of the salary cap era. The present holder of that title is the 2013-14 Buffalo Sabres, which averaged 1.83 goals per game.

The silver lining in all of this is that the Coyotes are setting up for the future. Not only do they control their own first round pick – which will be a good one at this rate – but the Colorado Avalanche’s as well. They hold a 2022 first round pick from Montreal too, but that’s conditional with a top-10 protection, meaning that the Coyotes could end up with a 2023 first-round selection out of Montreal instead.

On top of that the Coyotes have five second-round picks in 2022, so in summary the Coyotes control 10 first and second round picks over the next two drafts.

Story continues

Help is on the way, but in the meantime the Coyotes will try to find a way to be at least passable. The first step would be to end this…