Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteMoss
I don't have the numbers but I'd guess teams rarely go from god awful to a contender in one year.
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Tell that to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Or the Devils, I guess, but I'm a bit less convinced on that front still. But the current league is such that transition from rebuild to contender is not what it used to be. Not that I'm saying the Coyotes are going to be really good next year - but I don't think they would be regardless of who the GM was.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
The difference between 7-10-3 and 2-15-3 is that one team is at least somewhat competitive and the other so bad that there's no real reason for even hardcore fans to attend games.
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The real difference between those two records is that one is a mediocre team with passable goaltending, and the other is a mediocre team with abysmal goaltending. If the Coyotes' team save percentage improves, then things will get better for them, albeit not enough better for them to have a shot at the postseason. If it doesn't, well, it wouldn't really matter what they did, because they'd still be utterly screwed.
Moreover, of their fifteen losses, only three were "blowouts" - that is to say, losses by three or more goals, not counting empty netters. Their worst loss was 6-2, which is their only four goal loss of the season. It's not like they're getting totally destroyed game in and game out such that it's not even worth watching.