July 1 marked the beginning of Free Agency signings where NHL players who are unrestricted free agents (UFA’s) could sign with any team they desire. This is one of the biggest days of the season for NHL teams and fans alike as many teams add some key pieces to their respective teams. While many of the teams around the league made big name signings, like the Oilers signing veteran Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to a killer deal, the Coyotes signed a couple of key players to the roster.
Center Verne Fiddler (played with the Nashville Predators last season) and Goaltender Jason LaBarbera (who split time between the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks last season) were both signed to two year contracts. The terms of the deal were not disclosed by the Coyotes.
Now I’ll be honest, I don’t know anything about Verne Fiddler. However, according to the Phoenix Coyotes Twitter Page, Darren Pang called Fiddler “…a terrific player that plays hard. He can play wing or center and is reliable at both ends.” Pang is a pretty good analyst when it comes to NHL players so there’s no need to question or expand on this at all.
When it comes to Jason LaBarbera, I’ve been watching him from his early days with the Los Angeles Kings through the end of last season after he was acquired by the Vancouver Canucks in December 2008.
LaBarbera has been getting a bad rap during his time with the Kings partially because of the team in front of him and partially from being in a perpetually losing situation with the Kings year in and year out. As a result, LaBarbera became the whipping boy for Kings fans when it should have been the Kings front office on the proverbial whipping pole. Show me a player who can stick with a losing tradition like the Kings for so long and not have it effect his game in some way. The trade to the Canucks couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for Jason LaBarbera.
Up to the point to where LaBarbera was acquired by Vancouver on December 30th 2008, here’s what was going on with the Canucks last season:
- This was pretty much a brand new team with tons of player personnel turnover and new faces on the roster. Even by December of 2008, the Canucks never all ‘clicked’ together on the ice and in the win column on a consistent basis. Add some really long road trips into the mix, lots of trips to the IR with various players, and you can pretty much see some of the challenges that the Canucks were facing in this part of last season.
- Vancouver Canucks All-Star goaltender Roberto Luongo was out of the lineup with a groin injury on November 23, 2008. Goaltending duties were then split between then backup Curtis Sanford and top Canucks goaltending prospect Cory Schneider (who was brought up from the Manitoba Moose, the Canucks farm club).
- Schneider showed some great goaltending skills the time he was up with the Canucks. However, he was nowhere near ready to shoulder the load of being an NHL starting goaltender as he showed lots of areas of his game that needed improvement (like puck handling behind his net).
- Sanford was out of the lineup with a groin injury the day LaBarbera was acquired.
- When Sanford was in the lineup there was a huge gaping hole in his goaltending in game situations. He couldn’t stop a glove side puck to save his life. Sanford, for whatever reason, could not accurately track a puck coming to his glove side at all. When you look at video of the games he played after Luongo went down, he was guessing at glove side shot locations. He would put up his glove and hope the puck would land. He was eventually waived by the Canucks on January 14, 2009.
LaBarbera was pretty solid for the Canucks as he showed signs of brilliance with his first games in a Canucks uniform (he played the very evening of the trade). However, there was always a mental mistake of some sort from the team in front of him that led to losses or the team going to the shootout (see the reasons above). His record with the Canucks is a direct reflection of the Canucks not being a solid, confident, cohesive unit in front of him.
Now that he will be wearing a Coyotes uniform, LaBarbera has the opportunity to show people that the Kings were in the wrong when it comes to him being a bonified goaltender. He’s still got the skills but he has some parts of his game that can be improved on (like rebound control). He’s an excellent pickup for the Coyotes heading into next season.
Now it’s unsure if this will be yet another three way battle for spots in Training camp (with Al Montoya, LaBarbera, and Bryzgalov) like when David Aebischer, Alex Auld, and Mikael Tellqvist were battling for roster spots not too long ago. It’s also unclear what LaBarbera’s role with the team will be come training camp time. Will he be challenging for Bryzgalov’s starting spot or will he be the Coyotes backup right out of the gate? Time will tell.
Normally, an article like this would have been published sooner. However, I personally wanted to wait and see what the Local Arizona media’s reaction and coverage (as well as Coyote’s Fan’s reaction of this press conference) would be. We’re posting the most important points from yesterday’s press conference that fans should know about or may not know about already.
Yesterday afternoon, the Deputy Commissioner of the NHL Bill Daly was at the Alltel Ice Den in Scottsdale, AZ and held a press conference for local Arizona media. Mr. Daly first addressed the media by re-iterating that the NHL is committed to the Coyotes staying in Phoenix/Glendale and wanted to thank Coyotes fans for their support.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly talks with Coyotes Fans before his press conference
The main topics in the press conference was the court case with the Coyotes currently going on and the new bid submitted by Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to the NHL this past Friday.
Here’s the key points of the press conference we beleive you should know about:
Overall Success of the Coyotes and Hockey in Arizona
Mr. Daly pretty much re-iterated what every Coyotes fan (but not the local media for whatever reason) knows. From the time that current GM Don Maloney was brought on, he implemented a long term strategy of building a foundation of prospects and draft picks in their farm system. Gone are the days of trying to bring in high mileage Veteran leadership and other ‘past their prime’ or ‘high cost/low reward’ players. Maloney’s strategy has been paying off and the Coyotes are very close to turning the corner and are about to start becoming a winning franchise.
As for Hockey in Arizona, many people still don’t know how, according to Mr. Daly, the Phoenix Coyotes have “laid down roots in this community”. From High School hockey, to all three Major Arizona Colleges offering Hockey (ASU, U of A, and NAU all have hockey teams) to Junior Hockey (PF Chang’s sponsored a youth camp which was taking place during Mr. Daly’s press conference) the proverbial Hockey roots are starting to grow deep into the traditions of the Phoenix area. The process is developing ‘great young players’ but Mr. Daly also adds that even though lots of people are playing hockey in the valley, the “process is gaining momentum” in the Valley.
The Reinsdorf Bid
As you may or may not know, an ownership group led by Jerry Reinsdorf recently submitted an Ownership bid to the NHL for $148 million with the intention of keeping the team in Arizona.
Mr. Daly summarized the time lines for the Renisdorf Bid (some of these aren’t hard dates….just estimates):
- Received Bid from Jerry Reinsdorf’s group – Friday June 26th, 2009
- When Reinsdorf’s group must have a completed Asset purchase agreement in to the NHL by- July 24th, 2009
- Must have NHL Board of Governor’s Approval by July 30th, 2009
- The NHL Executive Committee schedules an interview with Reinsdorf’s group – Date not set
- Board of Governor’s meet to vote on the Application for approval of the sale – by August 5th, 2009. August 5th is also the deadline the court has set for approval of the transaction (the sale of the team to Reinsdorf).
The NHL is hoping they can get this all done in a month or so….on August 5th at the earliest. Mr. Daly is ‘hopeful and confident’ that the Reinsdorf bid is the right one for the Phoenix Coyotes moving forward.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly conducts his press conference while Coyotes fans show their support
How the team will be run next season via the Front Office while the current case is in court?
Right now Coyotes GM Don Maloney will still be making decisions for the club. Mr Maloney will be reporting directly to representatives of Jerry Moyes and representatives from the NHL (until the ownership court case is resolved). Maloney has already submitted an Operations Budget for next season and, according to Mr. Daly, the budget ‘has been approved by both sides’. Mr. Maloney has ‘fairly significant latitude’ to make decisions, in the realm of his job title. In short, ‘it’s business as usual’ for Mr. Maloney.
The 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix?
Following up on a story we first reported in January of this year:
(Fans may or may not remember but the Coyotes were to host the NHL All-Star Game in 2005 but was canceled due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement Labor Dispute.)
…we asked Mr. Daly if there will be an official announcement of the 2011 All-Star Game coming to Phoenix and if the court case had any effect on said announcement. As of this moment the NHL has not made an official announcement on the 2011 All-Star Game but Mr. Daily wasn’t in the position to make an announcement during this press conference either.
However, he did say this:
‘Phoenix is owed an All-Star game and we have every intention to make good on the promise to the people of Glendale and the City of Phoenix on bringing an All-Star Game here in the near future.’
Here’s what we’ve got so far with a list of places to celebrate the 4th of July around the Valley. We will be adding to this post as we find other celebrations around the valley.
One thing to keep in mind is that the City of Glendale has canceled their 4th of July celebrations for budgetary reasons so you’ll have to find other places to go to see some fireworks.
This past weekend, part of the Phoenix Coyotes staff were in Montreal taking part in the 2009 entry draft adding to the already strong foundation of prospects on the farm. Overall, the Coyotes selected five players and were a part of three trades which included a trading Coyotes Right Wing Brandon Prust for a solid defenseman in Jim Vandermeer formerly of the Calgary Flames.
With the #6 overall selection in the draft, the Coyotes selected 17 year old Oliver Ekman-Larsson who has been touted as ‘the real deal’.
For those of you who don’t follow hockey to well or don’t understand the significance of the NHL Entry Draft, we can sum it up in a few sentences. The way the NHL works with their latest collective bargaining agreement between the NHL Players Union and the Owners of the NHL is that building a solid foundation for a team is critical for the survival of a franchise. It’s just like a house. You need to have a solid foundation to build whatever you want on top and make it last for years to come. Gone are the days of building a team with high priced talent. The Coyotes have quieltly been building a tremendous foundation in the past few years that will pay off before too long.
Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney talked about their first round draft pick to the Coyotes Dave Strader. Good stuff here:
Maloney continued saying that the Coyotes “are extremely pleased with the way this weekend unfolded for our organization beginning with the selection of a top defensive prospect (Ekman-Larsson)”. Furthermore he added that “we added a tough NHL defenseman in Jim Vandermeer, who will help solidify our defense.”
Dave Vest talks with Coyotes Director of Amateur Scouting, Keith Gretzky at the conclusion of the draft.
Here’s his stats.
POS NAME ROUND HT WT TEAM GP G A PTS PIM PLACE OF BIRTH
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson 1st /6th overall 6’2” 176 Leksand (Sweden-2) 39 3 14 17 32 Karlskrona, Sweden
Coyotes Dave Vest talks with Second Round Pick Chris Brown:
In case you haven’t heard, the Chandler Center for the Performing Arts is undergoing a major renovation. However, that isn’t stopping the Chandler Center for the Arts from continuing to bring the extremely high quality acts and performances to the Greater Phoenix area. What they are doing is taking their ’show on the road’ to venues around the Greater Phoenix Area. One of the stops is the Higley Center for the Performing Arts in Gilbert and the presenting of American Idol Favorite Bo Bice. He will be performing a show on Saturday October 17, 2009 at 8:00PM in Gilbert. He has been touring since his Season 4 American Idol appearance and will be promoting songs from his album ‘See the Light’. Don’t miss your chance to see a great show in an intimate venue!
This evening marked two important milestones in the history of the Phoenix Coyotes franchise. First off was the NHL Entry Draft where the Phoenix Coyotes selected seventeen year old Oliver Eckman Larrson at #6 over all. Darren Pang, at the Coyotes Draft Party this evening, said that the Detroit Red Wings Swedish scout called Larrson a ‘Can’t miss’ hockey player.
The second milestone was first reported by TSN on their draft special (and later on their website) and confirmed by Coyotes FSN AZ color announcer Darren Pang (he made an announcement to the masses) at the at the Coyotes NHL Entry Draft Party this evening. The announcement was made that Jerry Reinsdorf has officialy filed an offer to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes with the intention of keeping them in Phoenix.
Needless to say, this news made the Coyotes fans day at the Draft Party.
AZ Vibe contacted the NHL this evening asking about Reinsdorf’s offer and they officially have no comment on the offer.
At this time we cannot confirm the price to purchase the Coyotes is indeed $148 million.
Here’s our video of the Coyotes first round draft pick from the Coyotes NHL Entry Draft Party at Buffalo Wild Wings. Commentary by FSN AZ Color man Darren Pang and radio Play by Play announcer Bob Heethuis. Darren Pang then interviews Coyotes forward Mikkel Boedker near the end of the video. Enjoy:
