Jeremy Roenick, one of the most colorful and charismatic players in NHL history, entered the Coyotes‘ Ring of Honor on Saturday.
The Coyotes put together a great montage of classic JR moments and testimonials from former teammates expressing their appreciation for one of the greatest US-born players in NHL history. Roenick was also given several gifts, including the special mask attachment he wore to protect his broken jaw in Game 7 of the postseason series against the St. Louis Blues.
Roenick also excited the standing-room only crowd at Jobing.com arena by commenting on the future of the franchise.
The Phoenix Coyotes are 6-2-2 over their last 10 games, but it doesn’t matter. Heck, even if they were able to keep putting W’s in the win column to make the playoffs, muster some Cinderella magic to ride through the postseason and complete an improbable run by winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, it still wouldn’t matter.
As it stands right now, all signs point to the Coyotes leaving the desert for good at the end of this season.
Kyle Turris’ contract standoff with the Phoenix Coyotes is officially over.
If you are like almost every other hockey fan in the country, you are probably asking yourself, “Who is Kyle Turris?”
Well, for starters, he’s definitely a guy who was in no position to demand to be traded prior to the start of the 2011-12 season. Turris, 22, scored 11 goals and 14 assists in a career-high 65 games for the Coyotes in 2010-11. In three seasons with the Coyotes, Turris has 19 goals, 27 assists and 39 penalty minutes in 131 games. It should also be noted that prior to his demand to be traded, this is the same guy who wanted to be paid $4 million a season.
Although the majority of the focus of the young 2011-12 NHL season thus far has been on Brendan Shanahan and all of the suspensions that have come from illegal hits to the head, it is only a matter of time before the focus shifts to Gary Bettman and the growing number of empty seats in NHL arenas around the country.
The Phoenix Coyotes were once again a surprise team in 2010-11. The team did not appear in the top 10 in any major League categories and featured just a single player among the league’s top 50 scorers—Shane Doan ranked 49th with 60 points—but the Coyotes still posted an impressive 99 points.
However, despite their surprising success during the regular season, the Coyotes were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season by the Detroit Red Wings.
With the Philadelphia Flyers signing of Ilya Bryzgalov to a huge nine-year, $51 million contract, it’s important to keep in mind that there are still plenty of talented goaltenders available on the free-agent market. Here are the top five.
1. Tomas Vokoun
It’s no secret that Vokoun wants out of Florida. The 35-year-old netminder is nearing the end of his career and he seems pretty hellbent on only playing for a contender. He has already been offered a deal from Avangard Omsk of the KHL over in Russia, so unless a Cup contender comes to the table (ahem, the Washington Capitals), we may have seen the last of Vokoun in the NHL.
I am happy to announce a new promotion here at Hockey Tickets Online. Beginning in October 2011, we will giving away way two tickets each month to a regular season NHL game.
To enter, simply leave your name and email address below. Once you are entered into the contest, your will be eligible to win tickets every month.
Congratulations to Eric who is our October ticket winner. Eric gets two tickets to the Panthers v Penguins game in November.
After a disappointing first-round exit from this year’s playoffs, the last thing the Phoenix Coyotes wanted hanging over their heads was the uncertainty of whether or not they would be playing in the desert next season.
Fortunately for Coyote fans, the team is staying put. For now.
The Glendale, Ariz., city council approved a measure Tuesday night that calls for entering into another one-year interim agreement with the National Hockey League to work together on securing ownership for the Phoenix Coyotes to keep the team in Glendale.
After going down 2-0 in the series against the Detroit Red Wings, one would imagine that the Phoenix Coyotes were relieved to be headed back to the desert. However, despite a jacked-up sellout crowd that whited-out the seats of Jobing.com Arena all the way up to the rafters, it took all of three minutes for the Wings to silence the fans and essentially take a chokehold on the series.
Ruslan Salei and Drew Miller shocked the Coyotes with two flukey goals in the first 2:41 of play and Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard was named first star of the game with 28 saves as the Red Wings took a commanding 3-0 lead in the series with a 4-2 win.
Although it’s now the playoffs and the physicality between teams has ramped up, that doesn’t mean the NHL front offices are taking a close look at dangerous hits.
Case in point, the Los Angeles Kings Jarret Stoll has been suspended for one game for his blindside hit that knocked San Jose defenseman Ian White out of Game 1 of their first-round series. This means that Kings will be without another depth offensive player for Game 2, and although the Sharks aren’t sure how long White will be out, he is expected miss at least one game.
