Phoenix Coyotes

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Phoenix Coyotes
Conference	Western
Division	Pacific
Founded	1972
History	Winnipeg Jets 1972-1996 Phoenix Coyotes 1996-present
Arena	Jobing.com Arena
City	Glendale, Arizona
Local Media Affiliates	FSN Arizona KDUS (1060 AM) KDKB (93.3 FM)
Team Colors	Brick Red, Sand, Black, and White
Owner	Wayne Gretzky Jerry Moyes
General Manager	Michael Barnett
Head Coach	Wayne Gretzky
Captain	Shane Doan
Minor League Affiliates	San Antonio Rampage (AHL) Phoenix RoadRunners (ECHL) Laredo Bucks (CHL)
Stanley Cups	None
Conference Championships	None
Division Championships	None

The Phoenix Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Contents 1 Franchise History 1.1 Winnipeg Years — WHA and NHL 1.2 Moving Problems 1.3 Recent Years 2 Season-by-season record 3 Notable players 3.1 Current roster 3.2 Team captains 3.3 Hall of Famers 3.4 Retired numbers 3.5 First-round draft picks 3.6 Franchise scoring leaders 4 NHL awards and trophies 5 Franchise individual records 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Franchise History

[edit] Winnipeg Years — WHA and NHL

The team began play as the Winnipeg Jets, one of the founding franchises in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets were the most successful team in the short-lived WHA, winning three Avco World Trophies, the league's championship trophy, and making the finals five out of the WHA's seven seasons. It then became one of the four teams admitted to the NHL when the rival leagues merged in 1979.

However, the club was never able to translate that success into the NHL after the merger. Whenever they did make the playoffs, the Jets either got beaten in the first round, or eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round. And despite strong fan support, the money simply was not around for the team, with operating costs and player salaries growing so rapidly. The team was sold to out-of-town interests, and in 1996, the club moved to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes.

[edit] Moving Problems

In the summer that the move took place, the franchise saw the exit of Jets stars like Teemu Selänne and Alexei Zhamnov, while the team added established superstar Jeremy Roenick who teamed up with power wings Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet to form a dynamic 1-2-3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like Shane Doan (the last remaining original Jet), Oleg Tverdovsky and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, arguably the most popular player in Coyotes history, whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall". Fleet sniper Mike Gartner came too, from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After arriving in Phoenix, the team posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons, though they have never made it out of the first round of the playoffs, a streak which dates back to 1988, while they were still in Winnipeg.

Despite his speed, and scoring his 700th career goal on December 15, 1997, Gartner battled injuries as 1997 became 1998, and the Coyotes didn't renew his contract. Gartner retired once the season was out.

The closest they came to advancing was during the 1999 playoffs, when they lost a heartbreaking Game 7 to the St. Louis Blues. The Jets/Coyotes franchise is currently the oldest NHL team to have never appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals. Since 2002 the Coyotes, due to lack of ownership stability and poor personnel strategies, have fallen to the lower echelon of the NHL and attendance levels have dropped, worrying many National Hockey League executives. In addition, an unfavorable lease with America West Arena, where the team played for its first eight years in Phoenix, had the team bleeding red ink.

The Coyotes were a hot ticket in Phoenix in the late 90s, and had superb attendance. However, America West Arena soon proved to be an inadequate location for an NHL team. Several seats were obstructed because the arena's floor wasn't designed with a hockey rink in mind, unlike most modern arenas. Seating capacity had to be cut down to 16,000 — the second-smallest in the league at the time — after the first season. Even then, a stretch of the upper deck actually hung over the ice, obstructing the views of around 3,000 spectators. Some fans even claimed that they saw where the concrete had been sheared off to create retractable seats for hockey. After attempts failed either to renovate America West or build an arena in Scottsdale, the Coyotes built Glendale Arena, which they moved into in 2003. Simultaneously, the Coyotes changed their logo and uniforms, heeding to hockey purists, and amazing many fans once again.

[edit] Recent Years

In August 2005, two months before the start of the new hockey season, the Coyotes announced that Oilers/Los Angeles Kings former superstar Wayne Gretzky would be the new coach of the team, replacing interim coach Rick Bowness. That month, the team signed aging superstar Brett Hull, son of former Jets great "The Golden Jet," Bobby Hull, and unretired the elder Hull's number for the younger to wear. "The Golden Brett" only lasted a few games before finding that the increased speed of the NHL under the new rule set was too late for him. In another, rather unusual, move, the Coyotes re-honored another Jets great, Thomas Steen, in 2006, despite the fact that his number had been retired by the Jets some years earlier.

As of around 11:00 P.M. EDT on June 19, 2006, when the Carolina Hurricanes, formerly the Hartford Whalers, won the Stanley Cup, the Phoenix Coyotes became the only NHL team from the WHA era to have not yet won a Stanley Cup (going back to the Winnipeg years).

The Coyotes, led by captain Shane Doan, "The Last Jet", hoped for a happy return to Winnipeg on September 17, 2006, playing a pre-season game against the 2006 Stanley Cup runner-up Oilers. Several thought it might be close, as Gretzky and Edmonton bench boss Craig MacTavish had been Oilers teammates from 1985-88. But Doan's anticipated "happy return to Winnipeg" didn't come even close, as the Coyotes were shut down 5-0, despite outshooting the Oil by a mere margin of 27-26, with a startling performance by Oilers' rookie goaltender Devan Dubnyk in front of a sellout pro-Edmonton crowd of 15,015 at the MTS Centre, the primary tenant of which is the Manitoba Moose, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.

[edit] Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of November 14, 2006. ^[1]

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1996-97	82	38	37	7	—	83	240	243	1582	3rd, Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Mighty Ducks)
1997-98	82	35	35	12	—	82	224	227	1602	4th, Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Red Wings)
1998-99	82	39	31	12	—	90	205	197	1412	2nd, Pacific	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Blues)
1999-00	82	39	31	8	4	90	232	228	940	3rd, Pacific	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Avalanche)
2000-01	82	35	27	17	3	90	214	212	1337	4th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2001-02	82	40	27	9	6	95	228	210	1154	2nd, Pacific	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Sharks)
2002-03	82	31	35	11	5	78	204	230	1433	4th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2003-04	82	22	36	18	6	68	188	245	1300	5th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2004-051	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2005-062	82	38	39	—	5	81	246	271	1493	5th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2006-07	17	5	12	—	0	10	41	69	358
Totals	742	318	301	94	29	759	1991	2082	10325	—	—

¹ Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

² As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

[edit] Notable players

[edit] Current roster

As of October 26, 2006. [1]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
30		David LeNeveu	L	2002	Fernie, British Columbia
31		Curtis Joseph	L	2005	Keswick, Ontario

Defensemen
#		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2		Keith Ballard (IR)	L	2004	Baudette, Minnesota
3		Keith Yandle	L	2005	Boston, Massachusetts
4		Zbynek Michalek	R	2005	Jindrichuv Hradec, Czechoslovakia
22		Dennis Seidenberg	L	2006	Schwenningen, West Germany
44		Nick Boynton	R	2006	Nobleton, Ontario
53		Derek Morris - A	R	2004	Edmonton, Alberta
55		Ed Jovanovski - A	L	2006	Windsor, Ontario

Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
11		Owen Nolan - A	RW	R	2006	Belfast, United Kingdom
12		Patrick Fischer	C	L	2006	Zug, Switzerland
15		Mike Zigomanis	C	R	2006	North York, Ontario
17		Ladislav Nagy - A	LW	L	2001	Saca, Czechoslovakia
19		Shane Doan - C	RW	R	1995	Halkirk, Alberta
20		Fredrik Sjostrom	RW	L	2001	Färgelanda, Sweden
24		Josh Gratton	LW	L	2006	Scarborough, Ontario
28		Steven Reinprecht (IR)	C	L	2006	Edmonton, Alberta
37		Georges Laraque	RW	R	2006	Montreal, Quebec
38		Dave Scatchard	C	R	2005	Hinton, Alberta
40		Mike Ricci (IR)	C	L	2004	Scarborough, Ontario
89		Mike Comrie	C	L	2004	Edmonton, Alberta
91		Oleg Saprykin	LW	L	2005	Moscow, U.S.S.R.
97		Jeremy Roenick	C	R	2006	Boston, Massachusetts

[edit] Team captains

Note: This list does not include captains from the Winnipeg Jets (NHL & WHA).

• Keith Tkachuk, 1996-2001
• Teppo Numminen, 2001-03
• Shane Doan, 2003- present

[edit] Hall of Famers

• Mike Gartner, RW, 1996-98, inducted 2001
• Dale Hawerchuk, C, 1981-90, inducted 2001
• Bobby Hull, LW, 1972-79 (WHA) & 1979-80 (NHL), inducted 1983

Note: Hawerchuk and Hull played for Winnipeg.

[edit] Retired numbers

• 9 Bobby Hull, LW, 1972-80, number retired by Winnipeg February 19, 1989; Hull's #9 was unretired briefly upon his request at the beginning of the 2005-06 season for his son, Brett, before he retired five games into the season.
• 25 Thomas Steen, RW, 1981-95, number retired by Winnipeg May 6, 1995
• 99 Wayne Gretzky, number retired league-wide February 6, 2000

The Coyotes continue to honor the retired numbers of the Winnipeg Jets franchise; the banners for Hull and Steen at Glendale Arena are in the Jets' blue, white and red.

[edit] First-round draft picks

Note: This list does not include selections of the Winnipeg Jets.

• 1996: Dan Focht (11th overall) & Daniel Briere (24th overall)
• 1997: None
• 1998: Patrick DesRochers (14th overall)
• 1999: Scott Kelman (15th overall) & Kirill Safronov (19th overall)
• 2000: Krystofer Kolanos (19th overall)
• 2001: Fredrik Sjostrom (11th overall)
• 2002: Jakub Koreis (19th overall) & Ben Eager (23rd overall)
• 2003: None
• 2004: Blake Wheeler (5th overall)
• 2005: Martin Hanzal (17th overall)
• 2006: Peter Mueller (8th overall) & Chris Summers (29th overall)

[edit] Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise (Winnipeg & Phoenix) history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Coyotes player

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Dale Hawerchuk	C	713	379	550	929	1.30
Thomas Steen	RW	950	264	553	817	.86
Keith Tkachuk	LW	640	323	300	623	.97
Teppo Numminen	D	1098	108	426	534	.49
Paul MacLean	RW	527	248	270	518	.98
Shane Doan*	RW	730	172	245	417	.57
Doug Smail	LW	691	189	208	397	.58
Laurie Boschman	LW	526	152	227	379	.72
Jeremy Roenick*	C	384	141	210	351	.91
Morris Lukowich	LW	431	168	177	345	.80

[edit] NHL awards and trophies

Jack Adams Award

• Bob Francis: 2001-02

[edit] Franchise individual records

• Most Goals in a season: Teemu Selänne, 76 (1992-93)
• Most Assists in a season: Phil Housley, 79 (1992-93)
• Most Points in a season: Teemu Selänne, 132 (1992-93)
• Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Tie Domi, 347 (1993-94)
• Most Points in a season, defenseman: Phil Housley, 97 (1992-93)
• Most Points in a season, rookie: Teemu Selänne, 132 (1992-93)
• Most Wins in a season: Brian Hayward; Bob Essensa; Sean Burke, 33 (1984-85; 1992-93; 2001-02)

[edit] References

1. ^ Hockeydb.com, Phoenix Coyotes season statistics and records.

[edit] See also

• List of Phoenix Coyotes players
• Head Coaches of the Phoenix Coyotes
• Winnipeg Jets
• World Hockey Association
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons

[edit] External links

• Official website of the Phoenix Coyotes

Phoenix Coyotes Head Coaches
Hay • Schoenfeld • Francis • Bowness • Gretzky