Fantasy : Phoenix Coyotes 2006-07 Preview : Drop the Puck

Offseason Summary

Last season the Phoenix Coyotes got some attention because hockey fans and writers were interested in seeing how Wayne Gretzky would do in his first year as head coach. Gretzky did a decent job in my books, as Phoenix was in playoff position until the midpoint of the season, when their leading scorer, Ladislav Nagy, had season-ending knee surgery. I thought the signing of goaltender Curtis Joseph during the 2005 offseason was one of the smartest signings the Coyotes have made in quite awhile. This offseason they brought in some defensemen that will make Joseph’s life a lot easier in goal. Phoenix traded for Nick Boynton, a defenseman with a ton of potential, and has gotten tons of praise over the years from a lot of hockey analysts. The Coyotes did have to pay a high price for getting Boynton though, as they had to send a good offensive defenseman in Paul Mara to the Boston Bruins. The Coyotes’ biggest addition during the offseason was the signing of a new number one defenseman, Ed Jovanovski, a great all around defenseman that can play in all types of situations, an element the coyotes have been missing for quite some time. The Coyotes also surprisingly brought back Jeremy Roenick (better known as J.R.) to Phoenix for a second stint after most people expected him to sign with a Canadian team. Roenick does give the Coyotes a 2^nd line center, but the main question is can J.R. get back to the dominant player that Phoenix fans saw during his first stint with the team. Roenick is coming off of his worst season ever, where he scored only 24 points in 58 games. Roenick did fight through quite a few injuries, and said there were some equipment problems that were affecting his play on the ice. Roenick has made a commitment to come back strong this season, as he plans on making all his critics eat their words, and end all the talk of him being looked at as a player who has passed his prime. The biggest risk the Coyotes took during the offseason was signing winger Owen Nolan. Nolan was one of the top power forwards in the game when he was healthy, but knee problems made him miss the whole 2005-06 season, which means he has not played a pro hockey game in two years if you include the lockout year. The deal is only for one season, which means the Coyotes do not have much to lose if he remains on the injured reserved for the majority of the year. During the offseason the Coyotes also lost a couple of veteran forwards, as the speedy Geoff Sanderson left due to free agency, and they dealt solid two-way forward Mike Johnson to clear up cap space.

Notable Additions: Ed Jovanovski, Nick Boynton, Jeremy Roenick, Owen Nolan, Georges Laraque, Mike Morrison

Notable Losses: Paul Mara, Geoff Sanderson, Mike Johnson, Oleg Kvasha

2005-06 MVP: Curtis Joseph

2005-06 Best Scorer: Ladislav Nagy

2005-06 Best Defenseman: Paul Mara

2005-06 Most Improved Player: Ladislav Nagy

2005-06 Best Rookie: Zbynek Michalek

2006-07 Outlook: One concern the Coyotes may have about their offseason moves is that most of them are coming off of injury-riddled seasons. Jovanovski, J.R., and Owen Nolan are all players that have had trouble staying healthy over the past two NHL seasons. On top of that, Ladislav Nagy is coming of off knee surgery, but has reported that he feels 100% healthy, but we’ll only know if that’s true once he plays in an NHL game again. If the majority of these players stay healthy, then the Coyotes will be in for an enjoyable ride this upcoming season. Their defense is solid, as they have guys who can play pretty well at both ends of the ice. Curtis Joseph showed that he can still play well enough to steal his team some games. Some people still question their offense, but I thought the young forwards had some pretty good chemistry going some games. If Owen Nolan did fully recover from knee surgery, and Roenick does have the season he envisioned then the Coyotes will have two good scoring lines to count on. Phoenix has a great mix of youth and experience, and I think they cannot be counted out to win the Pacific Division if they are relatively healthy. I am very confident in them at least making the playoffs for the first time since 2002.