We checked in with the Oilers yesterday to see how they are coping with the tank. Now its time to check in with the Arizona perspective from Brendan Porter at SB Nation’s Five for Howling.
1) How has the tank gone over in Arizona with the fans? Do you have a number of fans who want the Coyotes to lose for a chance at McEichel?
As the season has spiraled downhill quickly, more and more fans have embraced the idea of finishing at the bottom of the standings for a shot at drafting first or second overall. It’s certainly not universal, but most of the fanbase seems to believe now that the fastest path back to respectability is landing McDavid or Eichel in this year’s Draft.
2) What have been some of the methods for Arizona possibly trying to lose games? IE: Lineups and call ups.
It’s hard to say that Arizona has been trying to lose games; in fact the management of the team and others (myself included) thought that this Coyotes squad might be able to hang around the playoff picture this year because guys like Mike Smith had played extremely well in the past and Dave Tippett had developed a system that could get results even with minimal scoring.
Once it became clear that Smith was not playing well, the offense was underperforming even low expectations, and the defense was a little too green, the Coyotes went all in on the “reset” button. They traded puck-moving defensemen extraordinare Keith Yandle to the Rangers, sent their best shutdown defenseman Zbynek Michalek to St. Louis, and traded their best center – Antoine Vermette – to Chicago. There’s a strong chance they would’ve have traded more pending UFAs like Martin Erat, but the CBA’s restriction on how many contracts the Coyotes could retain salary on precluded them from doing so.
3) Are your fans keeping on eye on Oilers/Sabres games?
Oh yeah. Edmonton in particular has been interesting because the consensus seems to be that the Oilers ought to be better than the Coyotes are right now, yet they are tied with Arizona in the standings.
4) How do you feel about tanking in general? Do you root against Phoenix to finish last to get a chance at McEichel?
I think tanking is a product of the Draft Lottery being structured the way it is and the fact that the NHL is the only show in town. If you had a situation like the English Premier League where the price of finishing in last was relegation to an inferior league, then I think tanking would disappear overnight. But you really can’t create that kind of system without radically altering the sports landscape in North America.
So I don’t have a problem with teams operating within the rules to finish with as good a chance of drafting first overall as possible. As Chicago and Los Angeles have demonstrated, the only way to win the Cup in today’s NHL is via the draft. Selecting first overall makes that process much easier.
5) The Sabres have two games left with the Coyotes and I can already tell its going to be treated like the reverse Super Bowl in terms of importance with some fans. Are you guys circling those dates on your calender?
I’ve never been so excited for games between teams at the bottom of the standings. I’ve been watching the Leafs play the Sabres and Oilers to get myself hyped. It will either be the most unwatchable games of the year, or the most fun hockey played. There’s no in between.
6) How has the media in Arizona reacted to the Coyotes tanking? There’s a whole lot of discord with some Buffalo outlets about it being morally wrong vs. its the right thing to do.
Granted, the Coyotes’ media beat is a little bit smaller than most markets, but I think the media here has the right perspective. For most of us, tanking is not something players or coaches try to do; with someone like Dave Tippett coaching the team, losing on purpose might very well be a fate worse than death.
However one thing the media seems to appreciate is that General Manager Don Maloney has gone all-in on the reset of the team by trading as many UFAs as possible and stockpiling draft picks. There seems to be a definite plan in place to change the team’s fortunes.
7) Aside from losing and the Sabres winning, do you think you guys can catch us? Also, will there be a state of disbelief and anger if you guys don’t get the 1st or 2nd pick?
I will say that Arizona fans are probably regretting the season sweep with the Oilers right about now. If Buffalo takes both games the two play against each other in regulation, then it’s possible. It’s going to be hard to close the gap though.
I don’t think there will be as much anger as there would have been before the Trade Deadline. Arizona added a lot of pieces in players like Anthony Duclair, Klas Dahlbeck, and John Moore without giving up any of their draft picks. They have two firsts, two seconds, and two thirds this year, and two firsts next year. I imagine some of those picks will get shopped or moved around, especially to try and find a more experienced #1 center to take some of the pressure off of Max Domi and/or McEichel. But even so, Arizona has a good chance to land some darn good players even if they fall to #3 or #4.
8) Lastly, the narrative for some in Buffalo is that McEichel is going to the change the franchise forever, is that how you guys feel about it?
Perhaps more so than even Buffalo does. The one thing about Buffalo is that recent history suggests that even if the Sabres are a garbage fire for a long time, people continue to watch on TV, go to games, and give their money to Terry Pegula. There’s probably a point where they would stop, but somehow we haven’t reached it yet.
Arizona’s problem is that fans don’t reward poor performance by remembering an idealized past or looking at future greatness. They simply don’t show up. In some ways, I would argue that they are better fans than places like Toronto and Edmonton because they refuse to pay for prolonged mediocrity. Of course, the national narrative is that Arizonans don’t care for hockey. That’s not true. Youth development has seen one of the largest annual growth rates in America. Arizona State is the first PAC-12 school to get an NCAA Division 1 program. The front-runner for next year’s 1st overall selection was born in raised in Scottsdale. There’s plenty of interest in Arizona for hockey. There’s just little interest in bad hockey.
So that’s what the prospect of drafting McDavid or Eichel means for the Coyotes. It’s the opportunity to get a player who will crack the highlight segment of every sports show in America. It’s getting the kind of guy that fans across the NHL will pay money specifically to see play against them. It’s the kind of buzz and excitement that the Valley of the Sun hasn’t really seen since Kurt Warner led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl back in 2008. It’s the tantalizing prospect of seeing a line of Connor McDavid, Max Domi, and Christian Dvorak lead the team to respectability, and put to rest the existential fears of relocation that Coyotes fans have been fending off ever since the franchise arrived back in 1996. San Jose’s window appears to be closing. Los Angeles and Chicago are about to run into cap issues. The Coyotes could become a really good team in the span of a couple seasons, right as the powerhouses of the Western Conference start to run out of steam. That’s what drafting first or second overall means to Arizona.
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