For a moment there, it seemed like this season was the Arizona Coyotes‘ to steal.
The club soared for much of the early goings, rising to become a division leader and looking poised to hold onto that plum spot. In mid-December, those hopes of the Coyotes faithful seemed only to be ramping up, with news that GM John Chayka had swung a deal for Taylor Hall, adding the 2018 Hart Trophy winner to an up-and-coming offensive corps also recently boosted by the arrival of Phil Kessel.
There was a sense that Hall’s return to the west might just be a game-changer for the conference, that he’d be the final piece to push the Coyotes from dark horse to legitimate contender. Misfortune threw a wrench into those plans slightly, with an injury to star netminder Darcy Kuemper complicating the team’s potential ascent, and slumps throughout the roster undoing Hall’s fine play since coming aboard.
Now, after once sitting as a division leader, the team’s mired in the wild-card race, just a few points up on dangerous teams like Chicago, Winnipeg and Nashville. And getting there has been a tumultuous run — after winning just two of their first six with Hall (including his sterling debut), they rattled off four straight wins. And then undid that success immediately with a brutal stretch of eight losses in nine games, including their past five in a row.
With contender status out of the picture for the time being and their playoff chances in flux, let’s take a look at some numbers that illustrate why things have taken a turn since the club’s Dec. 17 blockbuster.
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1: Where Taylor Hall ranks among all Coyotes skaters in even-strength scoring since he arrived. The former Oiler and Devil has amassed 14 even-strength points through his 19 games in the desert, tops on the team.
5: Though the addition of Hall seemed a game-changer for the Coyotes’ power play, No. 91 hasn’t moved the needle in this regard as hoped. The club’s man-advantage unit has been fifth-worst in the league since the trade.
6: The number of times the Coyotes’ new forward corps has scored four goals or more over their past 19 games. On the flipside, the club’s allowed four or more goals seven times in that stretch.
7: While the struggles continue in the desert, Hall’s production hasn’t been the problem. His seven goals scored over these 19 games also rank best on the team over that span.
9: Even over this horrid nine-game stretch, he’s been a lone bright spot — the star winger has been a point-a-game player during the tough run, with nine points in nine games.
10: Clayton Keller, the club’s seventh-overall pick from 2016, and presumed future face of the franchise, has struggled somewhat since Hall arrived, posting just 10 points in those 19 games.
11: The club overall has underperformed, too. Even with Hall doing work, the Coyotes have posted the 11th-fewest goals in the league since he came to town to beef up the offence.
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12: Phil Kessel, the team’s other star winger, hasn’t been producing at the clip expected of a player with his resumé — the former champ has just 12 points since Hall arrived.
13: In terms of his two-way play, Hall has performed fairly well too — he’s tied for the team lead with 13 takeaways as a Coyote. Of course, being one of the club’s primary puck-carriers, he’s also tied for fourth on the team for most giveaways, with nine to his name.
15: Arizona’s leading scorer this season, Nick Schmaltz, hasn’t exactly been lighting the league on fire either, though he’s performed better than other key Coyotes scorers Kessel or Keller — the 23-year-old has 15 points since his team added Hall to the mix.
17: But overall, it’s been Hall driving the bus. While the team around him has offered up uneven performances, Hall’s posted 17 points in 19 games as a Coyote, leading the team in overall scoring since he arrived.
18:47: Hall’s also emerged as the team’s leader in terms of the ice he’s getting — he’s averaging 18:47 per game in the desert, most among all Coyotes forwards since he joined the team, but lower than his average during his Devils days.
19: The former league MVP’s offensive contributions have been partly undone by how porous the club’s been defensively. They rank 19th in the league over this span in shot differential per game, posting a -0.9.
21: It’s clear Hall, specifically, isn’t the problem given he’s been the team’s leading scorer since coming aboard. Kuemper’s absence seems the bigger factor, evidenced by the fact that the team ranks 21st in the league in goals-against per game since Dec. 17.
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23: Throw all of that together, and you’ve got a team that slots in at 23rd in the league when it comes to the percentage of possible points earned over this timeline — surely far below expectation given the quality of the piece acquired.
31.6: Getting pucks to the net has been one contributing factor to these struggles — over this 19-game segment, Arizona has been a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of shots per game, ranking 13th in the league in that category with 31.6 per game.
45.51: Looking a bit deeper into their issues, the problem isn’t just that the Coyotes are getting outshot — they’re also getting outplayed where it matters most. They’re third-last in the league since Hall joined when it comes to the percentage of total five-on-five high danger chances that swing in their direction, earning just 45.51 per cent of them in these games.
45.98: They’re, expectedly, no better when it comes to the goals department. Over this stretch, they’re getting just 45.98 per cent of the total five-on-five goals in these games as well, ranking 23rd league-wide in that category.
48.02: Arizona’s possession numbers in general tell a similar story — their five-on-five Corsi For percentage since Hall came aboard also ranks 23rd league-wide, with the club posting a 48.02 per cent over these 19 games.
61: As has been the case in nearly every other offensive category, Hall is doing his part and leading the way when it comes to getting chances on net, sitting tops in the team with 61 shots to his name since becoming a Coyote. In terms of his Corsi For percentage though, he ranks fifth among Coyotes forwards since arriving, with a mark of 48.9 per cent.
The Coyotes’ next chance to right the ship comes Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers. Catch the game at 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet NOW.
