Arizona Coyotes Looking for Consistent Hockey

When Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith met with reporters last Thursday during media day, he constantly talked about consistency.

After all, Arizona is a team that stumbled through the final weeks of last season and missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second consecutive year.

For Smith, coach Dave Tippett and the rest of the players, there is now a firm stability to reach. That means playing a full 60 minutes of championship hockey each night, displaying a stronger than usual defense during the final minute of a period and making sure the puck moves in a swift and efficient manner.

All of which may be easier to wish for than accomplish.

“Look, the consistency needs to be better,” Smith told reporters. “That’s how we have to think. We have to play our best and smartest hockey every night.”

Here, at the advent of training camp, it’s a given the Coyotes will not be a high-scoring team. In that regard, defense and goaltending takes on a greater importance. Not that defense and solid goalkeeping were not essentials to victory prior, but now, the Coyotes need to be more vigilant in execution.

Last season, the Coyotes only had three 20-goal scorers, and one, Radim Vrbata, signed with the Vancouver Canucks in the offseason as a free agent. That leaves captain Shane Doan, who popped in 23 last season, and Antoine Vermette, who led the team with 24 goals, as the only players to reach the 20-goal plateau. Going forward, scoring may come from unknown sources.

Plus, players recognize the necessity of involvement by all on the roster.

“It looks we may have to score by committee,” Doan told reporters during media day. “That’s the image we have right now and hope it will change. We have to find ways to energize the scoring and make sure we get contributions from everyone.”

As Doan will be 38 years old on Oct. 10, he reached the 30-goal mark only once in his 18-year NHL career. That was when he pumped in 31 during the 2008-09 season. Despite missing 13 games last season due to illness and now dealing with advancing age, Doan believes he can grasp the 30-goal level again.

“To do that, I have to be smarter,” he said. “I know my skills may be diminishing, so I have to compensate. That means hanging around the net more and not going too much in the corners or along the boards. Just smarter hockey.”

For now, the Coyotes have developed a kind of timeline mentality; that is, they hold that to win games this season, they will have to play keen and more disciplined hockey.

“The focus is on us,” defenseman Keith Yandle told reporters during media day. “Don’t worry about other teams, it’s about us. We all have to take ownership and be accountable.”

Mark Brown is a Featured Columnist. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.