With just 25 games remaining in the 2019-20 season, the Arizona Coyotes playoffs hopes are in a familiar position. They are fighting for a playoff spot and trying to accomplish it without key players in the lineup due to injuries.
Antti Raanta is a prime example of a player who is experiencing continuous repetitive lower-body injuries causing the team to be short-handed in the net. Whatever injuries he has, they are not being addressed and he missing significant time when he is needed defending the goal.
Arizona Coyotes Playoffs Hopes Connected to Injury Woes
Every team goes through injuries during a punishingly long 82-game schedule. During the 2018-19 campaign they failed to qualify for the playoffs. The way things have gone lately this season they may be back into that familiar situation once again.
Losing Darcy Kuemper since December 19th and for 20 games is a tough pill to swallow. Since his loss, the team has a depressing 7-10-3 record. Raanta hasn’t played all that well, and when Adin Hill has filled in, he’s done adequately well for a young, third-string goaltender. Recently, to add insult to injury (pun intended) Oliver Ekman-Larsson went down, followed by Jason Demers. OEL may be back soon, and Kuemper could actually be back to play on Monday against the Montreal Canadiens. According to Craig Morgan, both OEL and Kuemper skated this morning.
Darcy Kuemper is on the ice for practice this morning, taking shots at the Canadiens‘ practice facility. OEL is also on the ice. Derek Stepan & Brad Richardson are not (maintenance days). Stepan took that big hit that resulted in a 2-game suspension for Boston’s Jeremy Lauzon. pic.twitter.com/XQlVrPkxtS
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) February 9, 2020
With 25 Games Remaining, Every Game is Crucial
The Coyotes have just 25 games left on the schedule and sit with 61 points. Most experts would predict that a team in the tightly contested Pacific Division will need at least 90-92 points to make it to the postseason. That means that they will need to win about 15 games to get to that total. A 15-10 record is not impossible, but they need to get healthy first.
The divisional games remaining become four-point games. The good news is they have 15 games out of the remaining 25 games left against Western Conference teams. They have three games left against the current Pacific Division leading Vancouver Canucks. They are experiencing their own injury problems with Brock Boeser who may be out for 10-14 days with a minor shoulder separation.
The Coyotes woke up this morning out of playoff position in the Western Conference after a loss in Boston and wins by Winnipeg & Calgary on Saturday. As far as I can tell, that is the first time they have been out of postseason position since Nov. 10. pic.twitter.com/tNMRaJQ8S1
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) February 9, 2020
They haven’t been knocked out of a playoff spot since November 10th. It’s quite simple that once they get Kuemper and Ekman-Larsson back they need to win some hockey games. Going just 2-5-3 in their last 10 games is second only to the Los Angeles Kings who have a 1-8-1 record in the Western Conference.
Other Key Conference Games For Arizona Coyotes Playoffs Hopes
The Yotes face the Calgary Flames once, the Winnipeg Jets twice, the Vegas Golden Knights twice, and the Dallas Stars twice. Most of these games are must-wins for the Coyotes to be able to get to the playoffs for the first time since 2012. Every game counts, yet these inter-conference games can really catapult you in the standings if you can come away victorious.
Underperforming Players
Unfortunately, some players are not stepping up to keep the Coyotes in contention. Like for instance Clayton Keller. For a player who was signed to an eight-year $57.2 million contract starting next season, his numbers this season are not much better than last season. Last year he averaged 0.57 points per game and this season he has 0.60 per game. He’s a very streaky player. Since Kuemper has been out, he has only four goals, five assists. He has gone on stretches of five games or more without a point. For $7.15 million a year, he’s underperforming.
Another player whom the team had high expectations for when they traded for him is Phil Kessel. While with the Pittsburgh Penguins Kessel averaged 1.06 points per game over his last two seasons there. While in Arizona he’s only at 0.56, or almost half of the production he had previously. He is a force on the power play with eight of his 12 goals scored on that special team’s unit. The issue is Kessel and Keller are both struggling and are on the same line most of the time.
So, here you have two key players who are paid handsomely (Kessel receives $6.8M) and not helping the team to get up in the standings. Even with the positive addition of a Taylor Hall, the team is still under .500 with him in the lineup.
What Needs to Happen
The Coyotes are a playoff level team but haven’t quite shown it yet this season. While they stayed in a playoff spot for about two months, they now are barely out of it. The standings can change… and do almost on a daily basis.
If getting OEL and Kuemper and, eventually, Demers back doesn’t get them over the playoffs hurdle, not quite sure what might do it.
Perhaps some trades are in the works. It’s just two weeks before the trade deadline and we all know that John Chayka is not shy pulling off trades.
Wonder what he’ll do?
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