[DENVER, CO] -- What's up with the
Phoenix Coyotes? The Coyotes are in bankruptcy court and their future
location remains in doubt, yet they keep rolling along with six wins
in eight games.
My guess is players don't pay a whole lot of attention to stuff like
that, though it could change after the season if the Coyotes end up
moving from Arizona; that's when family issues like homes and schools
come into play.
In the meantime, goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is doing his best work since he
tossed three shutouts for the Anaheim Ducks in the 2006 playoffs.
Bryzgalov has posted a 6-1 record with a 1.14 goals-against average,
.953 save percentage and two shutouts.
"Maybe it's just the beginning of the season," he told the Arizona
Republic. "You know, my mind is fresh."
I guess bankruptcies and other related matters are the furthest things
from his mind at the moment, as they should be.
"There's still a lot to improve on, and we’ll keep pounding away at
it," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "We're getting some results,
which is a good thing. It just continues to build the belief that if
we do the thing the right way, we’re going to be a very good hockey
team."
I’ve always felt that Tippett was one of the NHL’s better coaches, and
that it was a mistake for the Dallas Stars to let him go.
Yes, I know it’s early, but the Coyotes are off to their best start
since the 2000-01 season, when they won six of the first seven games.
Unfortunately, the Coyotes didn’t keep it up that year and missed the
playoffs.
*****
The Colorado Avalanche has decided to keep 18-year-old rookies Matt
Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly on the roster, most likely for the remainder
of the season.
The teenagers still have junior eligibility, so they aren’t permitted
to spend time in the minors. They could be returned to their
respective junior teams – Duchene to the Brampton Battalion in the
Ontario Hockey League and O’Reilly to the OHL’s Erie Otters.
But once they play in a 10th NHL game, they’d be considered pros for
the season in matters such as progressing toward free agency and
likely would remain on the roster.
“The decision that’s been made is that right now they deserve to be in
our lineup and they deserve to remain in our lineup,” coach Joe Sacco
said. “We still have the option at some point to send them back to
juniors if we feel that’s in the best interest for them and for us.
But at this point, they’ve played every game and they’re being used in
different situations.
“Ryan has been used on penalty killing. He’s been used in a defensive
checking role. Matt is playing on our first power play unit and other
offensive situations. So, you know, as long as they keep playing the
way they are, they’ll remain here.”
Duchene, the Avalanche’s first-round pick (third overall) in the 2009
NHL entry draft, had a goal and three assists in his first eight
games. O’Reilly, a second-round pick (33rd overall), had a goal and
five assists in his first eight games.
*****
Riley Cote is accustomed to tattooing opponents with his fists, but
the Philadelphia Flyers enforcer took a different tact this summer.
He applied a Flyers tattoo to the ankle of Jeff Gemma, a friend and
professional tattoo artist.
"I was really nervous," Cote told phillynews.com. "I had never done
anything like that before. I just didn't want to screw up.”
Cote, an amateur when it comes to tattooing, apparently did OK.
Cote met Gemma when he was playing for the Philadelphia Phantoms in
the American Hockey League. Gemma had a shop in New Jersey when it was
visited by Cote and several other Phantoms players.
"I had wanted to do it years ago," said Gemma, who was a Boston Bruins
fan while growing up in Massachusetts before he lost touch with the
game.
That changed when the Phantoms paid a visit to his place of business
outside Philadelphia.
"I became a big hockey fan and to show my loyalty to the Flyers, I
thought it'd be cool (to have a Flyers tattoo),” Gemma said. “So I
decided to hit (Cote) up this summer when he came to visit me.”
Cote did his handiwork at Gemma's new shop, Secret Society Tattooing,
in Worcester, Mass., shortly before training camp started.
"It looks like a Flyers logo, so that's all that counts,” Cote said.
*****
Hockey is a tough sell in the South, which is why the Atlanta
Thrashers had better find a way to keep star left wing Ilya Kovalchuk
in town. Either that or trade him for a bushel of talent.
Thrashers general manager Don Waddell is trying to sign Kovalchuk to a
new contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end
of this season, but it could be problematic. Kovalchuk already is
being paid $7.5 million in the final year of his contract, and that’s
a ton of cash for a team like the Thrashers.
Kovalchuk reportedly likes being in Atlanta -- no pressure, I suppose
-- but you'd think he'd enjoy playing in a more traditional hockey
city even more, and for a team with a legitimate chance at winning the
Stanley Cup.
If Waddell can’t re-sign the talented Russian before the March 3 NHL
trading deadline, he'll need to put the big guy on the market and get
what he can in a trade rather than lose him to free agency and receive
nothing in return.
There would be plenty of suitors.
*****
Things continue to unravel for the reeling Vancouver Canucks, even
though goalie Roberto Luongo seems to have gotten back on track.
Left wing Daniel Sedin, who led the team in goals the three previous
seasons, will be sidelined for at least another month with a broken
foot, and defenseman Sami Salo is expected to miss between three and
five weeks with a sprained knee.
The oft-injured Salo has missed 223 games in 10 NHL seasons.
Rick Sadowski is a
columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com and the Colorado correspondent for
The Fourth Period Magazine.
He has covered the NHL since 1981, most recently for the
dearly-departed Rocky Mountain News in Denver. He's written for
several publications and web sites, including NHL.com. Check out his
blog
Through the 5 Hole.
