Arizona Coyotes Cannot Stay Atop Western Conference Standings

The Arizona Coyotes are probably the biggest surprise this season. Many were thinking they would make a major push at Auston Matthews in this year’s draft. Instead, they find themselves in a playoff spot two months into the season.

The Coyotes don’t have the right pieces to keep this momentum going. Max Domi has been playing out of his mind all season long. He has eight goals and 11 assists in 22 games. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been one of the best two-way defensemen in the league. Mike Smith and Anders Lindback have done just enough not to lose games for this team. They have been holding it together to gain 25 points in the early going.

All signs point towards a collapse coming soon. The Coyotes are getting all their scoring from the top of their lineup. Seven players have double digit points, and outside of that nobody has more than two goals. If one of their top line goes cold for two weeks, they could lose every game. They cannot rely on the top six and Ekman-Larsson staying this hot all season long.

A team that struggles to score usually looks at the powerplay to keep them afloat, but the Coyotes have one of the worst in the NHL. The Coyotes score with the man advantage just over 15 percent of the time. That is 27th in the league. If they can’t get that fixed, it could ruin the season.

The goaltending just isn’t good enough to keep the Coyotes here. Smith and Lindback are stopping 90.9 percent of all shots. That is tied for 27th in the league. A team like this needs to rely on their goalie when they don’t have it on a given night, and this team can’t.

The Coyotes are a great story. They showed they have the core to become a very good team in the future. Right now is not their time.