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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
By Zane
Miller
When I
first started watching hockey, I originally adopted the then-Phoenix Coyotes as
my favorite team on the basis that they had the coolest uniforms in the NHL
2003 video game, which I bought from GameStop back when they still sold used
GameCube games. I wanted to provide some context as to why I became a fan of
the Coyotes despite never having been to Arizona, as their famous kachina
jerseys are just that good. In fact, despite the team’s exit from the NHL, a
variation of the kachina uniform is still used by the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.
While I
eventually changed my official favorite team to the Columbus Blue Jackets of my
home state, my fondness for the Coyotes remained as I made them my
second-favorite team. Around this time, the team broadened their identity,
officially becoming the Arizona Coyotes in 2014. This serves as a convenient
starting point for this list, as I was a fan of the team throughout the
entirety of their run under this name.
As
mentioned earlier, the Coyotes are considered an inactive team, with players
and coaches being transferred to form what would become the Utah Mammoth after
the 2023-24 season. While local politicians have put together a group in an
effort to revive the Coyotes, this endeavor will obviously take quite a long
time to see results, especially considering the primary reason behind the
Coyotes leaving in the first place was the lack of a suitable arena. That being
said, I feel like now is a good time to take a look back at some of my favorite
Coyotes players over their final 10+ seasons. The main rule here is that they
should have played at least three full seasons as an Arizona Coyote, though
exceptions are allowed if it’s borderline. This article is a bit a different
format than usual, but enjoy the trip down memory lane!
5.
Kevin Connauton
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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Connauton first
got on my radar when he was a waiver wire pickup by the Blue Jackets early on
in the 2014-15 season, during a particularly brutal stretch of games where it
felt like every player on the team was getting injured. Through all the
adversity, once December rolled around, Connauton took control of the blue line
and helped the team to a five-game winning streak, including a game-winning
overtime goal during that stretch. Of course, this article is about the
Coyotes, so when he eventually left Columbus I was happy that he soon secured a
long-term spot in the Arizona lineup.
Being a
defenseman whose game didn’t particularly feature much offensive firepower, it’s
tough to analyze his play based on the typical stats, but Connauton generally
received a solid amount of ice time while racking up over 100 hits in each of
his full seasons with the team. In 2017-18, he had his best offensive season to
date with 11 goals with a positive plus-minus rate over 73 games, while the
next season saw him get his best average time on ice at roughly 18 and a half
minutes. While never really much of a fighter, he made his lone fight in a
Coyotes uniform count in a bout with Scott Laughton of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Perhaps upset that their last names happen to rhyme, the pair got into it halfway
through what would be a 4-2 Flyers win. However, Connauton was the clear winner
of the fight as he landed multiple punches while Laughton was unable to land a
punch himself before being knocked down.
Connauton
ended up playing just over half of his 360 career NHL games with the Coyotes, a
career which is technically still going on as he is currently under contract
with the Mammoth, though he hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since 2022. He even
made his way back to the Grand Canyon State, playing the past two seasons with
the Tucson Roadrunners.
4. Phil
Kessel
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| Photo Credit: NHL |
Manifesting
one of the more interesting career arcs in the NHL over the past decade or so,
Kessel found himself in Arizona late in his career, coming aboard before the
2019-20 season. By this stage, the Wisconsin native had already won a pair of
Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but still had his eyes set on
breaking the league’s iron man record of 964 consecutive games at the time. While
most were focused on former Coyote defenseman Keith Yandle’s simultaneous chase
for the new record, Kessel was trailing not far behind. Yandle ultimately broke
the record first midway through the 2021-22 season, but crucially Kessel never
missed a game during his time with Arizona. As Yandle was eventually scratched
from the lineup near the end of the regular season, Kessel was in prime
position to surpass his mark of 989 straight games.
While this
didn’t happen while with the Coyotes, Kessel’s 208 games played with the team
allowed him to take the record for himself as a member of the Vegas Golden
Knights less than a year after Yandle did so. Iron man streak aside, Kessel was
a solid contributor to the team, most prominently in the 2020-21 season where
he added 20 goals and 23 assists in the shortened 56-game season. His final
year as a Coyote saw him post quite the crazy stat line, getting eight goals and
44 assists as it is rare for a forward to see that many assists alongside a
single-digit goal total.
Technically,
Kessel’s iron man streak is still ongoing despite not playing since 2023, as he
has yet to formally announce his retirement. With Colorado Avalanche defenseman
Brent Burns rapidly closing in on the record himself, it would still be
possible for Kessel to end his hiatus and return to the NHL to extend his lead,
but unfortunately the comeback won’t happen with the Coyotes. Still, his 1,064
consecutive games streak is safe for the time being, and I’m glad the Coyotes
were a big part of making it happen.
3.
Connor Murphy
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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Another
tie-in to the Blue Jackets organization, Murphy grew up in Columbus as his
father, Gord, was an assistant coach for the team for seven seasons following
his own lengthy NHL career. Connor followed in his dad’s footsteps and
established himself as a potential big league defenseman, which the Coyotes took
notice of. The team took Murphy in the first round of the 2011 draft, making
him the first player on this list to come up after originally being drafted by
the Coyotes.
Murphy had
his first full NHL season in 2014-15, albeit a rough one with a -27 plus/minus
rating in 73 games played along with committing 25 giveaways to just eight takeaways.
However, he bounced back in the 2015-16 season with a +5 p/m in 78 games
played, being credited with over 20 minutes of average ice time per game,
improving his takeaways to a total of 21 in the process. In 2016-17, Murphy
crossed the 200-hit mark for the first and so far only time of his career while
playing in 77 games. While he unfortunately wasn’t a Coyote for very long, being
traded to the Chicago Blackhawks after that season and spending the bulk of his
career there, it’s nonetheless cool to have a tangible link between my two
favorite teams like that.
2. Mike
Smith
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| Photo Credit: AZCentral |
Here’s
where the exception to the rule I was talking about at the start comes into
play, as Smith comes up just short of reaching the three-season threshold as an
Arizona Coyote. However, there’s no way I was going to do this without having
Mike Smith included, and this list is more about sentimental value than the
statistical aspect anyway. That aside, Smith came into the fold for the Coyotes
back when they were still known as Phoenix, spending several seasons around the
league as a backup previously. However, as soon as he got the starting job he
had his breakthrough, scoring 38 wins and leading the team to their best postseason
run in franchise history with an appearance in the 2012 Western Conference
Finals. In 2013, Smith further cemented himself into Coyotes lore by becoming the
11th goalie in NHL history to score a goal, and the first since 2002
to do so on a direct shot at an empty net.
Getting
back to his time with Arizona post-2014, he was the starting netminder for 61
games in 2014-15 and put together a .904 save percentage, despite a record of
14 wins and 47 losses. At this point, it bears mentioning that Coyotes were
never a very good team under the Arizona moniker, they were average at best and
had some pretty ugly seasons, as was the case with 2014-15. If it were any other season,
this year for Arizona would be more infamous, but this was also the season that
the Sabres were pulling the most obvious tanking job in NHL history in trying
to draft McDavid so the Coyotes’ season kind of slips under the radar. Anyway, Smith
came into 2015-16 looking for a bounce back year, but just two months into the season,
he went down with a leg injury that kept him out until mid-March. By the time Smith
returned, the Coyotes were still on the fringes of making the playoffs. Smith actually
played significantly better after coming back from the injury than before, collecting
a .944 save percentage and 1.80 goals against average. While it wouldn’t be
enough to get the Coyotes in the playoffs, Smith proved that he was back.
For
2016-17, Smith kept up the solid play from the season before, earning a .914 SV%
over 55 games played. This finally netted him his first All-Star Game appearance,
but only had 19 wins to show for it at the end of the year as Arizona finished
well outside of the playoffs. The strong season also caught the eye of the
Calgary Flames, who traded for Smith in the offseason, bringing his Coyotes
tenure to an end. He went on to play several more years in the NHL and just
like another one of my all-time favorite goalies, Braden Holtby, finished his
career literally one win away from 300 career wins (sigh). But Smith established
himself among the top goalies in the Coyotes history and I always loved seeing
his various Wile E. Coyote masks as well.
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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
1.
Shane Doan
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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Who else
was it going to be at the number one spot? Doan became one of the original
Coyotes of the 1996-97 season after playing his rookie season in Winnipeg
before the relocation to Phoenix. Looking at the stats from his first handful
of seasons, it seems like he was called up to the majors too early, but hit his
stride once the 2000s rolled around and never looked back, becoming an
incredibly consistent 25-30 goal scorer for the team.
Fast-forwarding
to the Arizona name change, Doan had been the team captain since the 2003-04
season, but at age 38 was showing signs of slowing down as he had 14 goals and
22 assists in 2014-15, but still played nearly the entire schedule at 79 games.
As pointed out earlier, the Coyotes were near the bottom of the standings that
year, but Doan was a big part of the 2015-16 rebound as he collected 28 goals
and 19 assists in 72 games as the team was in the postseason conversation for
much of the season. This included the final hat trick of his career on December
29th against the Blackhawks, fittingly taking place on home ice and enabling
him to tie Dale Hawerchuk for the most career goals in franchise history
(including the original Winnipeg Jets).
While Doan
was unable to sustain this momentum into 2016-17, he was still able to achieve
the rare feat of playing a full season at the NHL level at age 40 or older. After
retiring that offseason, Doan quickly picked up a front office role with the
Coyotes and his #19 jersey was officially retired by the team in 2019. While I
only really caught the tail end of his career, his impact on the organization
was nonetheless palpable and it was also awesome to see his son, Josh, make his
NHL debut with Arizona in their final season, as well as score a hat trick with
them in the preseason.
Thanks for
reading, as I said this article was a bit of an experiment but was intriguing
to think about. Probably the toughest cut from the list was Liam O’Brien, had he
played longer with Arizona he would’ve been on it for sure but I was already
pushing it with the Smith pick. You can go ahead and pencil him in as my unofficial
#6 pick. I’m certainly rooting for the Coyotes to make a comeback and they will
immediately reclaim their spot as my second-favorite team if they do return to
the NHL, but until then we have their spiritual successor in the Mammoth and
they have a pretty nice jersey too.
