The surprising root of the Coyotes' newfound respectability

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The surprising root of the Coyotes' newfound respectability

Mon, Nov 5, 2018

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Coming into this season, there was very little reason to believe the Arizona Coyotes were going to make much noise.

They're still not cutting through the league like a hot chainsaw through margarine given their 7-5-0 record, but they've looked more like a team to be reckoned with than the surefire basement dwellers they were projected to be.

That success, such that it is, centres around an impressive ability to keep pucks out of the net. The Coyotes have allowed a league-low 24 goals, and seven in their last five games — all wins.

Keeping pucks out of your own net, as it turns out, is an enormously effective way to win hockey games. Though the Coyotes' ability to do that starts with Anti Raanta, who's followed up his sterling .930 save percentage from last season with a .929 so far this year, he isn't the only crucial factor.

The Finn has been top-notch, but what's made the Coyotes such a special defensive outfit is their absolutely ridiculous penalty kill. Right now that group ranks first in the NHL at 92.1 percent.

More extraordinarily than that base percentage is that they've scored more than twice as many goals four-on-five (7) than they've allowed (3) — an absolutely absurd statistic, even this early in the year. After potting the fewest short-handed tallies in the league last year (2) they've got a total that would have ranked a respectable 16th for the full season of 2017-18.

So, how have the Coyotes — a team without much frontline talent to speak of — crafted a penalty kill that is both extremely efficient and weirdly dangerous?

There are a few factors at play:

The Michael Grabner effect

Brad Richardson may lead the team in short-handed goals with three, but the new element here is Grabner.

Thanks to breakneck speed, and the kind of sometimes-dubious hands that don't guarantee him a top-six role, Grabner perfectly fits the profile of a penalty killing workhorse. Since the Austrian debuted in 2009-10 his 17 shorties ranks fourth in the NHL.

He already has four short-handed points, including two very nice goals he put away against the Lightning.

Grabner isn't just effective off the rush with his speed, he creates rushes with his ability to take away the puck. Both of the above goals were the product of plays the veteran wingers made in the defensive end.

On the first, he broke up a pass to spring a breakout with his linemate Richardson.

On the second, he applied the pressure on the point and reached Nikita Kucherov in time to pick his pocket.

Grabner isn't particularly known for his playmaking, but he's also shown an ability to set up Richardson — a particularly impressive feat considering the centre managed just three goals in 76 games last season. The best example is this play where he threaded a feed between the legs of Hampus Lindholm to give his centre an easy goal:

That's the fun and flashy stuff, but the bread-and-butter of this awesome unit has been keeping the puck out. They've managed that in large part due to…..

Pressuring the point

In today's NHL it's common for penalty kills to hunker down as close to the net as possible in a tight box. The Coyotes aren't re-inventing the wheel, but they do have their forwards get out and harass point players more than most.

It's a subtle difference, but it often winds up being a significant one, and the more Coyote kills you watch the clearer it is their forwards are playing with far more aggressiveness than most units. This play by Richard Panik , for instance, is not one you often see.

Even though it wasn't successful it encapsulated what this group is about.

One of the most practical benefits of challenging the point is the ability to block shots far away from the net. This reduces the chance of creating a rebound into a dangerous area, and can spring breakouts — or a the very least zone exits — if the puck gets to the edge of the zone.

It's not usual to see the Coyotes getting in the way of pucks closer to the release point, like Richardson does here.

Playing near the blue line also just makes life uncomfortable for the opposing team. Sitting back in a passive box allows power plays to pass around the perimeter comfortably whereas the Coyotes are more likely to force mistakes.

There is an opportunity to cost to venturing away from the blue ice and putting more focus on the blue line as the point of attack can open up some passing lanes closer to the net. So far that tradeoff has been worth it, in part because of the emphasis the Coyotes are putting on the penalty-kill transition game.

Committing to breaking out

When power-play units commit a turnover they can normally expect a counterattack from two opposing forwards as the two penalty-killing defencemen either hang back or make a change.

The Coyotes, on the other hand, usually respond to these situations with a three-man rush, as one of their blueliners joins the action.

Even guys not traditionally known for their offence often provide transitional support. The result may not always be a goal, but a breakout like this can kill more time off the clock, result is a decent shot, and force a full regroup from a power play whereas the more common 2-on-2 too often ends in a dump in.

Sometimes it can be more than a time killer, like on this goal from Richardson that never would have happened if Niklas Hjalmarsson , generally a stay-at-home type, hadn't hopped in on the rush.

The veteran blueliner also has a great deal of authorship for this penalty kill's success outside of his rare offensive play.

The return of a healthy Hjalmarsson

When the Coyotes brought Hjalmarsson into the fold last season, it seemed like the team was overestimating its ability to compete in the present. It's safe to say 2017-18 was a disappointment for the veteran Swede who only laced 'em up for 48 games and didn't move the needle much.

This year Hjalmarsson has been the defensive anchor Arizona thought they were getting. He's played 3:31 minutes on the penalty kill per night, almost 40 seconds more than anyone else on the Coyotes and tied for 15th league wide.

The 31-year-old is precisely the type of player who won't jump off the stat sheet in any category (his assist on the goal above is his only point this season), but he consistently makes strong defensive plays and good decisions.

The play below is a perfect example, as he harasses Jordan Greenway down low and then comes off his man just in time to block a Charlie Coyle shot.

Something like this is never going to make a highlight reel, but it helps explain why the Coyotes are so hard to score on. Hjalmarsson is both fearless and smart when it comes to his shot blocking. He's willing to get completely in front of pucks, but also smart about throwing his stick out when the opportunity calls for it.

There's a reason he ranks sixth in the NHL in short-handed blocks since breaking into the league in 2009-10. It's not all he has to offer, though. Despite his reputation as a no-nonsense defender, he does have the capacity for a nifty play with the puck from time-to-time.

Not every defenceman has the confidence and ability to pull off a between-the-legs pass like this to get his club out of trouble.

If Hjalmarsson stays healthy — not a given, but not a stretch given his history of durability — the Coyotes have a foundation to build their penalty kill around, something they envisioned when they first grabbed him from the Chicago Blackhawks.

You can bet your bottom dollar at some point the Coyotes will have a penalty kill that concedes more goals than it scores, but that doesn't mean this group isn't for real.

The combination of a top-notch goalie, a defensive centrepiece, one of the league's top short-handed attackers, and an aggressive play style isn't going anywhere — and it's starting to look more and more like the Coyotes aren't either.

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