By Adam W Parks
Coyotes Used To Losing Everything But Games This Year
The Red Wings begin a West Coast tour in Phoenix tonight that will extend through the end of October. In what normally would be considered a scrimmage, the struggling Wings, who are winless on the road this season, will face a shockingly strong Coyotes squad that has jumped out to a 5-2-0 start by riding the searing-hot pads of goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Amidst losing money, fans, ownership, and ‘The Great One’, Phoenix has been able to prevail and succeed on the ice...too bad few people in Arizona care about hockey.
“Don’t Bankrupt Me, I Beg Of You, Pleeeeaaaase Don’t Bankrupt Me!”
Last season it became obvious that the Phoenix Coyotes were in fact a pack of dire wolves when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stepped up in February and loaned the team money to stay afloat. By May, team owner Jerry Moyes had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Since then there have been just a few potential buyers, most notably Canadian Bazillionaire Jim Balsillie, whose back-door dealings with Moyes and intentions to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario angered the all-powerful Bettman. Balsille’s original bid of $212.5 million eventually grew to $242.5 million, but Bettman came in, got his deck of cards, and sat down for the game. Unfortunately for Balsillie, the cards were all the same. The NHL offered $140 million with hopes of reselling the franchise to a buyer that would keep the team in Phoenix. Both bids were rejected by the court, rights to sell remain in the hands of Bettman, and the Coyotes began the 2009-2010 season without proper ownership.
The Not-So-Great One Loses Luster In The Desert
As if the turmoil wasn’t torrent enough, nine days before the season began Wayne Gretzky resigned as head coach. Subtract all of the team’s monetary troubles and it was still obvious to anyone who saw Gretzky’s blood pressure boiling over last year that he needed to step away from the sand storm. He joined the Coyotes organization in 2001 in the organization’s futile attempt to make ice hockey a popular sport in the desert. He took over as coach in 2005. The greatest statistical player to ever lace up the skates would like to have his coaching numbers stricken from the record: 143-161-24, 0 playoff appearances, 12th place (as in the Coyotes’ best ever finish under Gretsky’s tenure was 12th place in the Western Conference), and 1 illegal sports gambling ring. Remember that one? Gretzky’s close friend and assistant coach Rick Tocchet’s scandalous sideshow that involved Gretzky’s own wife, Janet? But the blame of this disastrous team that is the Phoenix Coyotes cannot be placed entirely on Gretzky, though he certainly felt the weight of it. No, the franchise was doomed from day one when it left Winnipeg in 1996.
Caveman Science 101: Fire Burn! Melt Ice!
The real blame for this pathetic, scavenging pack of glorified dingos must start directly with the man that blocked Balsillie from buying the team and moving it back to hockey’s motherland. Yes Gary Bettman is the man that decided to bring Canada’s sport to the Sun Belt of America. Not just Arizona, but Atlanta, Nashville, Florida, etc. A brilliant marketing scheme: ‘Let’s take a winter sport and try to force-feed it to people who are already in love with college football and car racing’. To a possible new fan of the sport, a hockey game in Phoenix is little more than a few hours out of the blazing sun to enjoy excellent air conditioning and overpriced beer. Here are the facts that any potential owner of the Coyotes must face, 1) The team has never won a playoff series, 2) The team has not even made the playoffs in seven years, 3) The team recently devised a plan to give away free tickets to future home games if fans will PLEASE attend upcoming games, and 4) The team has never, not once, made money since moving from Winnipeg. The Coyotes may put a good product on the ice this season, but if that product don’t sell...
An Oasis On The Horizon Or Just Another Mirage?
The only bright spot about the Phoenix Coyotes this season is the actual team. In the wild, coyotes are known for being highly adaptable, especially with their diet, often feeding off of garbage and rubbish to survive through the tough times. These coyotes seem to be sick of trash and are off to a fantastic start under new head coach Dave Tippet who has the team concentrated on hockey, not politics, finances, empty seats, and half-eaten hot dogs thrown onto the ice after a home loss. The real story is between the pipes. Bryzgalov, who signed as a free agent with Phoenix from Anaheim two seasons ago, boasts a 1.14 goals-against average, a .953 save percentage, and two shutouts in just six starts. His suffocating stats earned him the first star of the NHL last week, ahead of Avalanche goaltender Craig Anderson and Capitols superstar Alex Ovechkin. If the Wings hope to turn things around for themselves and start this road trip off with a win, Mike Babcock and his players will have to figure out a way to put pucks past Bryzgalov and hope his early season heroics are just a fluke.
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